Dijsselbloem: Greece’s review may take months

Only when Greece has satisfactorily implemented a series of contentious reforms, most notably changes to the country’s pension system, can the euro area contemplate moves to ease its debt burden, Djisselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, told reporters in Amsterdam on Thursday. The review’s completion should also unlock the next installment of Greece’s loan arrangement agreed last year.
“There can only be a successful completion of the first review if there is an agreement on all the open issues — and the pension reform is the biggest one,” Dijsselbloem said. The review will need “certainly rather months than weeks,” he said.

European creditors are showing no sign of backing down in their demands for Greece to take tough economic steps before getting the billions of euros needed to pay salaries and buy goods. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has also warned that the country’s pension system is on the “brink of collapse.”

Greece’s government is scheduled to submit legislation for the country’s pension reform to parliament between Jan. 20 and Jan. 25, the 300-seat chamber’s Speaker Nikos Voutsis told reporters in Athens on Thursday. The debate and vote on the bill is expected to be completed in the first 10 days of February.

source: Bloomberg