(Reuters) - The reform outline sent by Greece to
Eurozone ministers to unblock loans is "helpful,” but needs to be
scrutinized by representatives of the country's creditors, according to
the head of the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, whose group meets on Monday to discuss
Greece, was responding to a letter he received on Friday from the new
left-wing government in Athens asking for an immediate resumption of
talks with creditors.
It also described seven reforms it wants to launch to achieve goals agreed to by the previous government.
Once steps to reach these goals are taken, Greece would
become eligible for more credit
from the Eurozone and the International
Monetary Fund, and its banks could again finance themselves at European
Central Bank open market operations.
But time is pressing because Greece will run out of cash later this month.
"This document will be helpful in the process of specifying
the first list of reform measures," Dijsselbloem said in a written
reply to the Greek letter ahead of Monday's meeting.
Greece's main creditors are euro zone governments and the
IMF. They are represented in talks with Athens by three institutions
dubbed the troika - the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF.
"The proposals described in your letter will thus need to
be further discussed with the institutions," Dijsselbloem wrote in the
letter, obtained by Reuters.
"Let me also clarify that in the course of the current
review the institutions will have to take a broad view covering all
policy areas," Dijsselbloem wrote.
His remarks refer to plans of the new Greek government to
replace some of the budget consolidation measures agreed to by the
previous government with different reforms.
Euro zone officials say such substitution is fine only if the end result in budgetary terms will be the same.
Greece has asked for the discussions with the institutions
take place in Brussels to avoid the connotation of a loss of sovereignty
that visits to Athens by troika representatives over the past five
years have had for the Greek public.
Even the word troika is anathema to Greeks, hence the references to the institutions.
"We have agreed that the discussions with the joint
institutions will take place in Brussels," Dijsselbloem replied to the
request. "Technical work to support this process will be done on the
ground in Athens."
If Greece reaches an agreement on reforms with the
creditors' institutions it could get 1.8 billion euros remaining from
the existing 240 billion-euro bailout.
It would also be eligible to get 1.9 billion euros that the European Central Bank made in profits on buying Greek bonds.
"I would encourage you to work in close coordination with
the institutions with a view to achieve a speedy and successful
conclusion of the review," Dijsselbloem wrote.
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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