A high-ranking European Commission (EC) official warmed the Greek government that the second review on the 3rd bailout program must close by the end of November if a package-deal, which would include the participation of IMF and provisions for a debt relief, was to be agreed upon at the December 5 EuroGroup meeting.

Short term measures linked to the debt relief, a demand the Greek government and the IMF have been consistently pushing to achieve, are expected to be agreed on after the completion of the second review, something that will influence the IMF board of directors on whether the Fund will continue to back the Greek program.

The same source said that even though the completion of the second review would not be easy, as it involved reaching an agreement on the thorny labour and fiscal matters, he remained optimistic that a deal between Greece and the institutions would eventually be hammered out before the end of the year. “All matters have to close simultaneously in order to reach a complete agreement”, he revealed under the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the participation of the IMF in the Greek program still remains unclear, as it depends on the debt sustainability analysis report (DSA), which in turn is directly influenced by the measures Greece’s creditors decide on the county’s debt. This means that the measures on the Greek debt by its lenders have to be clear in order for the IMF to reach a final decision on whether it will remain on board the bailout program. In addition to the Greek issue, an interesting development is the fact that the EuroGroup, scheduled for Monday, November 7, will examine the impact of a possible union of Cyprus, focusing on fiscal and economic matters of both the Greek and Turkish-Cypriot communities.