The government is rushing to complete procedures for the first package of measures that will be discussed at the upcoming Euro Working Group on Tuesday 21 April, in order to boost revenue streams.
However after European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialog Valdis Dombrovskis noted that there was not enough time to come to the necessary decisions so that funds may be released for Greece, in time for the Eurogroup scheduled for the 24th of April. The next likely date for a Eurogroup decision seems to be the 11th of May.
The European Commissioner told the Handelsblatt that Greece is unlikely to receive any further funding, as it does not seem that a decision for the payment of the next loan installment will be reached in time for next week’s Eurogroup.
As such, all that will be discussed at the Eurogroup in Latvia on the 24th of April – in relation to Greece – is the progress of reforms. Mr. Dombrovskis stressed that the negotiations with Greece are rather complicated and underlined that although a lot of time has already been wasted, the process is speeding up.
On Tuesday, PM Alexis Tsipras called a meeting with his financial staff in order to discuss the next moves in the negotiations. Present at the meeting with government VP Yannis Dragasakis, Minister of Finances Yanis Varoufakis, Minister of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism Giorgos Stathakis, Alternate Minister of International Economic Relations Euclid Tsakalotos, Alternate Minister of Finances Nantia Valavani and the General Secretary of Fiscal Policy Nikos Theoharakis.
