European Commission Spokeswoman Annika Breidhardt said on Monday that she could not confirm Greek newspaper To Vima’s reports that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made a new proposal to break the Greek deadlock with its lenders from the EC, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. She said that work was still continuing on a comprehensive deal. The same applied to Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici’s spokesman Oliver Bailly who tweeted that he could not confirm reports of a new proposal to resolve the Greek crisis.
The deal in question aims to yield 5 bln euros for Greece to cover the fiscal gap by the end of 2016 so as to unlock the 7.2-bn-euro tranche benchmarked for Greece. Measures, narrower than those sought by the IMF and German hardliners, would include:
* Implementing VAT after the summer, including an 18% rate for cash purchases, 15% for card transactions and 6.5% for certain products.
* Keeping the emergency contribution until after summer and withdrawing the 30% discount for the solidarity tax for incomes over 30,000 euros.
* Cutting the 13th pension and reevaluating the zero deficit clause on auxiliary pensions
* Retention of the unpopular single property tax (ENFIA)
* Re-evaluating the collective labor agreements issue
* Establishing an independent General Secretariat of Public Revenue
* Creating an independent Fiscal Council
* Creating measures for dealing with the humanitarian crisis with the creation of a safety net for vulnerable groups.
Labor and social security issues would be discussed in Autumn, according to the plan. In return, the IMF would be replaced by the ESFS and lenders would hand over 1.8 billion euros worth of loans as well as the 1.9 billion euros that the ECB made on Greek bonds that have been held for Greece.
The new Primary Surplus goals:
– Primary surplus worth 0.75% of the GDP for 2015
– Primary surplus worth 2 % of the GDP in 2016
– Primary surplus worth 3.5% of the GDP for 2017
– Primary surplus worth 3.5% of the GDP for 2018
On Monday night, the Greek government denied reaching such a document from the European Commission. A government official said: “There is no such document from the Commission.”
Teleconference with the Brussels Group
A meeting was in progress until late last night with Athens pushing for an agreement with creditors until the end of May.
