The moment of truth for the Greek Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) ruling party is on its way. January will be judgment month for the Greek economy while vulture funds ominously loom waiting for mortgate loans to enter distress funds while Greek Parliament can do little to protect those in debt bearing in mind that it is required to vote through austere social security reforms and table new taxes for the agricultural sector.

Following the holiday season, Athens is expected to be bombarded by representatives of creditors from the European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Stability Mechanism. Horns are expected to be locked bearing in mind that lenders felt duped by the government’s decision to pull out a ‘parallel program’ of humanitarian measures to offset the austerity measures as soon as the 13 prior actions for the bailout tranche were voted on. Now, the Greek government has pulled away the program, but the very fact that it existed has added a new air of suspicion in relations between SYRIZA and creditors… again!

For the moment, the government wants to ensure that relations are stable so that the first review of the Greek economy can kick off on January 18 as expected. Nonetheless, there are two thorny issues that need to be solved so the next installment worth 5.7 billion euros can be disbursed.

– painful changes in social security (social security funds to be murged, pension ‘haircuts’) etc. to economize on 1.7 bln euros.

– new tax interventions that include changes to tax for leasing and agriculture. Creditors doubt that measures already voted on (island VAT, gambling, wine tax) are adequate.

A new front is to be opened by the government concernng the mass media. Sources state that modifications to the National Radio and Television Council (ESR) are to be submitted to Greek Parliament in January so that TV licenses can be processed.