Difficult negotiation with the troika: All issues from scratch

The Greek government is on alert in view of the critical meeting today between John Stournaras and the troika, which will show if there is room for agreement with the country’s lenders until Sunday.
 
The remaining open issues are many, so a new round of meetings will start from noon today in the Ministry of Finance with all the ministers involved in the negotiation.
 
"It's difficult but not pessimistic," Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras answered on reporters' questions about the course of the negotiations between the government and the troika. He said they are discussing the revised text of an agreement aimed to end the negotiations "as soon as possible."
 
The Greek side is under great time pressure. "Troika returned with revised texts, but if we do not conclude as soon as possible the Greek and European parliaments will not have time to approve the agreement to disburse the tranche," an economic staff member said.
 
Of the remaining open issues it appear that the weight befalls upon the ministers of Finance, Labour, Administrative Reform and Development. The discussion will include:
 
- collective layoffs in the private sector: the government says the possibility of a special law for layoffs is moving away. It believes the troika is beginning to accept the Greek positions
- layoffs in the public sector: the government believes that it has avoided placing a numerical target on further layoffs from this year onwards

- banks: the issue of stress-tests has been surpassed for now, but the government must bring the bill for the recapitalization of banks next week. The aim is that the FSF capital to remain intact, at least until the ECB stress-test
- tax issues: no agreement on the issue of reduction of fines, the new calculation of capital gains tax on real estate etc.
- structural changes: troika is pushing the government to accept as many OECD measures as possible, in exchange for concessions on labour and layoffs in the public sector
 
The government has clarified that it will not give up on the distribution of the primary surplus of uniformed personnel, low pensioners and vulnerable groups shortly after its certification by Eurostat on April 23. The representatives of Greece’s lenders are pushing to limit the social dividend and use most of it for any deviations in the performance of this year's budget and to repay overdue state debts.
 
Finance ministry officials argue that troika agrees that there is no budget gap for this year, so "the budgetary measures are not an issue."