Greece’s creditors from the European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Stability Mechanism are hardening their stand on Athens in the new year following the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government’s presentation of a ‘parallel program’. As a result, the bailout loan worth 1 billion euros is being passed through the sieve despite lawmakers having voted of 13 prior actions on December 15.

The creditors are now waiting for the Ministry of Health’s expenditure for the EOPPY medical system to be published on Monday or Tuesday before the ESM decides to disburse the 1 bln euro tranche benchmarked for Greece. If all goes well, the government will be able to relax over the holiday season, however the first review of the Greek economy is set to begin on January 18 with two thorns worth 5.7 bln euros:

– changes to social security (merging funds together, haircuts to pensions etc.) to gather 1.7 bln euros;

– new tax interventions, such as changes to farmers taxation as creditors are unaware if measures already taken such as VAT on islands, and lucky games taxes are enough.