Negotiations with creditors continue

European Union and International Monetary Fund inspectors discussed the agenda of the review with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos. They further met with Labour Minister George Katrougalos later and discussed pension reforms. Fiscal issues are expected to be discussed today.
Labor Minister Giorgos Katrougalos said that the two sides presented a road map for the negotiations on social security which is made up of four parts: The architecture of the system (national pension and replacement rates), measures for farmers and the self-employed and the government’s new proposals which were submitted to the institutions, the recalculation of 2018 pensions and the way to implement personal disputes, and supplementary pensions.
He also said that his aim is to examine initially the first three issues and to leave supplementary pensions last.
The review was interrupted in early February due to differences among the institutions over the estimated size of a fiscal gap by 2018, but also disagreements with Athens on the depth of the pension reform and the management of bad loans.
Athens has pledged to cut pension spending by 1% of GDP this year and reach a primary surplus of 3.5% by 2018. It was not clear if the lenders had reached a consensus on the projected fiscal gap which could force Athens to cut pensions further, despite its pre-election promises.
Eurozone finance ministers acknowledged this week that a debate on debt relief was coming up soon, but Greece should first implement pension and tax reforms, set up an independent revenue agency and deal with non-performing loans. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he expected the review would be completed by early May.