EC, ECB and IMF – but not Troika! – are back in Athens

Author: newsroom  | Published: March 10, 2015

The words have changed, but the interpretations are words apart

The troika of international creditors from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund are expected to return to Greece on Wednesday, March 11, for business, though the government is quick to state that they will not be back as the daunting “Troika” per se but as “institutions”.  Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that the “troika” that would dictate reforms to Greek ministries and humiliate the country is a thing of the past, instead the institutions making up the group are returning not as foes but as equal partners to assist rather than command.

Regardless of what they are called, however, there is no denying that the men the government promised to do away with are expected to review Greece’s finances. Eurogroup Chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Monday urged Greece to stop wasting time in negotiating a reform package, a view echoed by other Eurozone finance ministers.

Discussions on Greece at Monday’s Eurogroup lasted for less than 30 minutes. One Eurogroup official told Proto Thema that the reason for the fast-paced lookover was because Varoufakis’ proposals were labelled “inadequate” as EU partners called on Athens to add more specific measures and reforms to solve the monetary problems facing the country.  

One thing that was made clear at Eurogroup was an agreement for the return of a group formerly known as troika to review the Greek economy. Furthermore, it was also stressed that Greek Parliament would need to vote on reforms that would bring about clear fiscal results. On its part, the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government and its right-wing anti-austerity junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) appear to be scrambling to find different words to define the situation.

The words may have changed, but margins are narrowing. Time is running out for the new Greek government that has had to face growing cashflow problems since its victory on the January 25 elections. Eurogroup partners consider Varoufakis’ reforms proposals to be inadequate as they are too general without succinctly addressing EU partners concerns or those of Greek taxpayers.
The Greek government has rejected a statement by Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan that Greek Deputy Prime Minister Giannis Dragasakis will head discussions with the former troika instead of Finance Minister Yiannis Varoufakis. High-ranking Eurogroup sources confirm this.

International press is disappointed with Greece 

The international press is critical of the Greek government for wasting time trying to find new words. Following the Eurogroup meeting, German newspaper “Der Spiegel refered to the EU’s dismay that the Greek government wasted so much precious time on “nothing” whereas German newspaper “Frankfurter Alggemeine Zeitung said that Greece needs to start negotiations anew with the troika following the unclear proposals of Varoufakis and time wasted by the Greek government. The international press overwhelmingly is refering to the three institutions as troika.