Government meetings ahead of negotiations with the troika

Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis denied that the troika of international creditors had sent an ultimatum to Greece, neither have they set a date for continuing negotiations

Greek press reports on Monday focused on an ultimatum that Greece’s international creditors from the European Union sent before an agreement for an exit to the memorandum could be achieved. Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis denied that he had been sent a 24-hour deadline for regulations to take place before further negotiations can take place, however it is certain that Greece needs to continue its negotiations so that its review can be ready by the December 8 Eurogroup summit. A series of meetings are taking place in Greece on Tuesday focused on negotiations with Greece’s international creditors from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr. Hardouvelis is meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias at 2 p.m. on Tuesday to brief him on negotiations between Greece and EU creditors in Brussels. Sources state that Mr. Hardouvelis will talk about the difficulties in the negotiation process and the precautionary credit line that Greece is to receive following its exit from the memorandum. The two men will also talk about the political uncertainty caused by talk of early elections as well as the absence of a convergence of views between political factions that would have helped convince Greece’s international creditors that it would be safe to continue with an agreement with Greece.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and socialist PASOK Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos are examining which initiatives to take in order to prevent a deadlock with the troika. The coalition government is considering the presentation of a new budget plan on Monday to cut the primary surplus by 1.8%, just 1.5% of the GDP for this year, in order to give greater leeway for achieving a surplus at 3% of the GDP for 2014, one of the conditions set by the troika.