With the troika scheduled to return to Athens around the 15th of January, the Prime Minister is putting the pressure on his cabinet to carry out all necessary actions related to avoid any delays. After all, Greece has only completed about 65% of the 135 necessary actions, as outlined in the bailout and progress is relatively slow.
Even though Prime Minister Antonis Samaras claimed in his New Year address that “the worst was over”, the reality is that significant changes still must take place. A number of critical issues which were meant to be tackled in 2013 were either left unresolved or unilaterally by the Greek government, such as the real estate tax, VAT in food and the ambitious suspension and dismissal plans. The overall sentiment is that Greece will be in a better negotiating position when the country’s primary surplus is confirmed.
As Greece will preside over the European Union for the next six months, Mr. Samaras expects the troika to ease the pressure on his government. New Democracy has taken a significant dive in the polls, while the right-wing party’s traditional voters are increasingly undecided and looking for alternative solution.
To that end, the government is considering its options in bolstering its demographics, since it has a slight parliamentary majority. Amongst things considered are carrying out the sale of Eurobank, taking advantage of the EU presidency, distributing the primary surplus amongst pensioners and uniformed officers and giving out 50-euro raises in April as an “Easter present”.
The government has invested a lot in returning to the markets in 2014 (despite the IMF’s estimations that this would not occur before 2018), in an effort to eliminate suspicion and help Greek businesses become more competitive in the international markets. While the government has denied rumors of general elections taking place in 2014, these benefits and measures suggest there might be an element of truth in the opposition’s claims.
