Greece and lenders head back to technical talks

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (right) talks to Institute President Rob Johnson (left) during the 6th Annual Plenary Conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) at the OECD headquarters in Paris, on Thursday.

Technical work aimed at securing a basis for an agreement between Greece and its lenders is expected to begin in Athens and Brussels on Monday ahead of a Eurogroup meeting on April 24.

Kathimerini understands that the deliberations will resume after discussions during Wednesday?s Euro Working Group ended with an agreement that Athens should have a comprehensive proposal to make within six working days. The reform proposals will have to cover fiscal, pension, labor and privatization issues, according to creditors.

Sources said that during Wednesday?s meeting Greece?s representative, Finance Ministry general secretary Nikos Theocharakis, told his counterparts that the government might not have enough cash beyond April 24. However, lenders do not appear convinced by this as they think Athens is trying to use its lack of liquidity as a way of pressuring the institutions into agreeing to disburse some of the 7.2 billion euros remaining in bailout funds.

Nevertheless, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis appears certain that that a consensus will be reached soon. ?I am very confident,? he told Bloomberg TV on Thursday. ?The negotiations are proceeding quite well. It is in our mutual interest to strike a deal by the 24th, and I?m sure we will.?

In Paris, where he was speaking at an economics conference, Varoufakis suggested that the coalition is ready to compromise but that it would not give in on everything.

?We wouldn?t be fit for the purpose if we were not prepared to take the political costs which are necessary to stabilize Greece and lead it to growth,? he said. ?But let me be very precise on this, we are prepared to make all sorts of compromises, we are not prepared to be compromised.?

Varoufakis was speaking after it had been...

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