Samaras: We are closing the deal, we want the whole tranche

Speaking at the EU Summit, PM Antonis Samaras expressed the view that in the next few days the deal with the Troika will close and asked for the disbursement of the 31.5 billion euros to be carried out soon.

Samaras stressed the government's determination to complete the mission and made an extensive reference to the sacrifices of the Greek people, which are now bearing fruit. He even spoke of the progress that has been made both in budgetary issues and structural changes, and stressed that unemployment has reached dizzying heights. He also emphasized the need to provide liquidity to the Greek economy and underlined the privatizations that are already in progress.

He concluded by saying that Europe should strike a balance, as set out in Rompuy’s proposal, in the combination of fiscal discipline and growth, and that if the proposal were implemented from scratch in the case of Greece, we would not have reached this point.

The Greek delegation seems optimistic that it can achieve the goal of getting a positive reference in the text of conclusions tomorrow. However, as the issue of Greece is not on the agenda of the Summit, the PM's goal is to get a positive comment from the European leaders.

If there is no clear reference to the conclusions the government wants to have, at least positive stances are desirable in the discussion of the leaders and their respective public statements.

The Eurogroup of November 12 will decide on the disbursement of the tranche

The government wants the disbursement of the 31.5 billion euros in November before the exhaustion of the limits of the Greek economy, and believes that the decision may be made at the next Eurogroup on November 12. A prerequisite for this is an earlier positive report by the troika and the resolving of all the unfinished issues.

The government believes that the Troika’s statement on the eve of the summit on Wednesday, in which it indicates that there is an agreement "on most issues that are critical for regaining the momentum of reforms and paving the way for completion of the report", was a good one. Unresolved issues still exist in the field of structural changes and the labour market. The government estimates that common ground will be found even in the labour market without sacrificing the fundamental rights of workers and without causing friction among the three governmental partners.

The government is optimistic that things will work out positively for the country and that the disbursement of the tranche will not be blocked by the gap between the IMF/ EU and Berlin concerning the sustainability of the Greek debt. Of course, it believes that initiating a discussion on a new haircut on the Greek debt in a way that would affect the disbursement of the tranche would be a negative development. Samaras is trying to avoid this, as well as the extension of the conversation with the risk of it coinciding with the debate about Spain.