Greek govt says national reform plan on its way

Following the first 5-6 reforms, a full list of 10 will be presented at the teleconference with the Brussels Group on Monday

The Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government on Thursday said it would submit an elaborate national reform plan to Eurogroup as time is running out. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’ colleagues said that the Greek side would present its reforms to the three institutions of international creditors in a teleconference call on Monday.

The government stressed that the memorandum ended on January 25 and the new measures would be in accordance to the agreement made on February 20. It was stated that there would be no recessionist measures, such as reducing pensions or wages, or other reforms that would potentially throw the labour market back off track.

The initial measures presented by Varoufakis numbered five to six, however the list to be presented will number around 10. The teleconference call with the Brussels Group comes at a time when the state’s coffers are essentially low with Greece’s budget currently up in the air.

For Greece to receive the 7.2-bln-euro tranched benchmarked for the country it will need to present a programa that would cover the fiscal gap. Some of the reforms being explored include VAT increases to luxury goods, changes to the income tax index and the retentian of the single property tax known as ENFIA with minor changes.

SYRIZA cited laws that it has voted to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the overdue debts, in contrast to the previous finance minister’s intentions.