No easing of the memorandum, EC responds

The European Commission clarifies that there will not be any change in the Greek program, despite the error in the multiplier by the IMF that had created expectations in the government about easing the austerity measures. During yesterday's Ecofin meeting and referring to the mistake, European Commission vice president Olli Rehn said: "There is no error, the program is absolutely correct."

In his intervention in the debate, Greek Finance minister Yannis Stournaras asked Rehn that the Commission express a public position on the issue, while his Irish counterpart Michael Noonan called for a Troika report on the issue of the austerity’s impact on the recession and the budget multiplier it is using.

ESM manager Klaus Regling said yesterday that he does not fully agree with the analysis of the IMF on the issue of multipliers, and sees problems with the data presented by the Fund.

"There were good reasons the multipliers were greater, but this is not the main issue. Even if we knew everything from the beginning, no one can be 100% sure as every prediction has its uncertainties. Such decisions should have been made in 2009 when the deficit had reached 15.6% of the GDP," he said.

Despite the negative reaction by the European Commission about changing the program, Stournaras will ask the Troika to reduce the VAT on catering to 19% from the current 23%.

Greek government circles believe that there should be a revision of the special fee on fuel, as excessive taxation has led to a decrease in revenues.