Amsterdam/Brussels - Greece must present further reform proposals under the terms of its bailout, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Monday, hours before his group of eurozone finance ministers was to resume talks about the cash-strapped country.
Athens and its creditors agreed 10 days ago to prolong the European portion of the Greek rescue package, following fraught negotiations with the new government of leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
The country has hinted that it may face difficulties meeting major debt repayments this summer. But it cannot access the 7.2
billion euros (7.8 billion dollars) remaining in its bailout package until it agrees reforms with its creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“Of the 20 measures that the Greeks had to take, they have presented six,” Dijsselbloem told Dutch daily De Volkskrant, adding, “It will be a drawn-out process.”
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis sent Dijsselbloem a letter last week, published by the Greek newspaper Protothema, outlining a series of reform proposals such as hiring part-time undercover inspectors to root out tax evasion.
CONDITIONS MUST BE MET
“A letter here or there changes nothing,” commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told Monday's edition of German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“We keep having to repeat one point: If the (bailout) programme is to be successfully concluded, the government has to meet its conditions,” Dombrovskis added.
Varoufakis, in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera, said Sunday that his country does not yet have acute cash flow problems.
“We have the money to pay the pensions and salaries of public employees. For the rest, we will see,” the minister said.
He floated the prospect of a referendum or even new elections if the country's bailout partners don't accept the government's reform proposals.
“We are yet not glued to our seats,” Varoufakis said. His government took office in January on a platform to end bailout-related austerity.
Since 2010, Greece has received a total of 240 billion euros under two bailouts to avoid bankruptcy.
Sapa-dpa