"Nothing has been finalised," Greek Finance Ministry says

All issues remain open in the consultations between the Greek government and troika, after the last meeting held Friday evening at the Finance ministry.

"Nothing has been finalized," a Finance ministry member said after the meeting, which was attended by Yannis Stournaras, Christos Staikouras and Yorgos Mavraganis. A new meeting between the two sides is likely to take place Saturday afternoon.

In today's meeting the two sides discussed all the outstanding matters in their negotiations, the mobility in the public sector, the deficit, the single real estate tax, and the National Bank - Eurobank merger.

 

This meeting was preceded by another one between a 9-membered delegation of executives from both banks and troika, under P. Christodoulou of National Bank. Reportedly, troika insisted on reducing costs in the case of a successful merger, on the redundancies and on the closing of branches.

 

"Our lenders cannot veto, but they are the ones putting the money and dictate developments," an economy team member said after the bankers’ meeting with troika.

 

Troika wants to be convinced about the synergies that will result from the National Bank - Eurobank deal and make sure the whole process will not require more recapitalization funds.