Greek government optimistic about tranche disbursement

The Greek government is optimistic about resolving the Greek issue despite the problems than arose during Tuesday’s Eurogroup meeting. It believes that the new Eurogroup meeting next Monday will make the final decisions and that it will decide about the disbursement of the tranche of 31.5 billion euros by the end of November and a further 5 billion in December, and 8 billion to complete the amount of 44 billion euros in the first half of January.

 

Greece is aware of the discussions held between Brussels, Berlin and Washington and hopes there will be an agreement which apart from the disbursement of the tranche, will include regulations for the sustainability of the Greek debt.

 

One PM associate said “it is not evident but the issue of sustainability required some delicate handling to obtain the best solution for Greece without being involved in the tug of war between Berlin and the IMF.”

 

The Prime Minister spoke with Christine Lagarde and Rompuy yesterday and told them that there should be no further delay. He added that not finding a solution to the Greek problem will bring about the collapse of the Eurozone but not due to Greece; rather, it will be the responsibility of those who until now have used Greece as a pretext.

 

Samaras traveled to Brussels for the summit yesterday. Although the subject of the meeting is the budget for 2014-2020, the Greek issue and the management of the debt crisis in the Eurozone will be discussed on the sidelines of the meeting and the contacts that Samaras will have with European officials and counterparts. In the afternoon he will meet with European Council president Herman von Rompuy and then with EU prime ministers.

 

At the summit, the prime minister will claim more money than what has been decided for Greece but based on data from 2009. However, there is a more general problem as the budget will be reduced.

 

The countries of the South are looking for a smaller reduction with more contribution by the rich countries of the North. The surplus countries, however, not only disagree but some of them, considered to be satellites of Berlin, are also calling for further reduction of the EU budget. The debate on the budget is expected to be intense and it is possible that the EU might abandon the 7-year and proceed with approving the funds on a yearly basis.