They’re giving us the money but they want to govern too…

The Greek government’s meetings this past weekend with the Troika are developing into an unbelievable merry-go-round, shadowed only by Ireland resorting to the IMF mechanism.

This development burdens Greece’s negotiating position in the midterm, as the number of countries asking for help increases. But it might be a good thing temporarily to quiet down the endless maneuverings about the next loan installments, made more complex by the “nagging” of the auditors about low performance.

The auditors were on a direct line with Washington, Frankfurt and Brussels and the    outcome can be summarized in three key assertions:

The third installment is almost assured. The IMF will approve the 3rd installment on December 17th despite its reservations, something that will happen with Brussels too. Quite possibly this will be announced in the Troika’s press conference on Tuesday, instead of Monday, since it was unavoidably delayed for a day due to the continuous
meetings.

The auditors seem cautious as to the effectiveness of the transfers in the public sector and are expecting dismissals, if not right away, at least when a divergence from the path to the reduction of the deficit is noted.

Resentment has also been expressed after the governmental reforms, since the auditors give “low grades” to certain ministers for their procrastination in applying the Memorandum terms.

The real challenge is set three months from now (March 2011), when the fourth installment will be discussed, along with the debriefing data for 2010. Given Ireland’s integration into the IMF, the Troika representatives will not be doing any favors.

All this has been taking place while the difficult meetings continue day and night. On Sunday, the meeting between the minister of Finance and the Troika was adjourned at around midday. Then came the developments with the IMF’s assistance to Ireland and George Papakonstantinou began contacts with Brussels for the Eurogroup teleconference, in an attempt to announce their decisions before the opening of the Asian markets and new possible attacks on the EDuro.

The minister had a new meeting with the Troika during the interval and then went over to Megaro Maksimou with Mr Loukas Papadimos to inform the Prime Minister about the new negotiations, right after his return from the NATO meeting in Lisbon.