Greece to Delay Sending Reform List Until Tuesday

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis speaks during a press briefing at the end of a special Eurogroup meeting of Finance ministers at the European Council headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, 20 February 2015. Photo EPA/BGNES

Greece will miss Monday’s deadline for submitting a list of draft reforms aimed at securing an extension of its bailout programme and will send the list to its eurozone partners on Tuesday morning, according to insiders.

The list must be approved by international creditors to secure a four-month loan extension and help Greece avert bankruptcy.

According to inside sources quoted by international media outlets, the draft will include measures for improving tax revenue collection, combating tax evasion, cutting the number of civil servants and cracking down on the illicit trade in cigarettes and oil products.

Once the proposal is formally submitted, the eurozone finance ministers will discuss it in a teleconference before deciding whether to approve an extension of Greece’s financial rescue programme.

Reuters quoted an unnamed official as saying: “The list of reforms will be sent to the finance ministers of the Eurogroup on Tuesday morning, while a teleconference will take place in the afternoon."

Greece’s three creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF - will say whether they approve of the draft on Tuesday.

Although the delay isn’t seen as crippling Greece’s bid to seek an extension of its bailout, “it does show that Greece’s new Syriza-led government - in power just four weeks - is struggling to address the demands of its creditors,” the WSJ commented in its coverage of the news.

 

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