Euro Working Group

The next government in Greece will be the one to offer the necessary explanations to the Eurogroup about the outgoing administration's handouts, which appear to be leading the country toward a fiscal derailment and target shortfalls.

It is highly improbable that Greece will be discussed during Thursday's Eurogroup in Luxembourg, a top eurozone official said Wednesday.
The same official said that the third report on Greece's enhanced post-program surveillance issued by the European Commission will be discussed by the eurozone finance ministry staff (Euro Working Group) after Greece's July 7 elections.

After Sunday's elections, the government has one week to form the strategy it will pursue in its negotiations with the eurozone creditors, as June 3, when the Euro Working Group convenes, will mark the beginning of a testing time in relations between Athens and its lenders.

The Euro Working Group (EWG) ended on Monday night without a decision on the disbursement of almost 1-billion-euros from creditors, as there is still no agreement with the Greek government on its plan for protecting the primary residence of debtors from foreclosure.

Greece's creditors, and the European Central Bank (ECB) in particular, are determined to force Athens to improve the new framework for protecting primary residences from foreclosure so that its does not further exacerbate an already weak payment culture or reward tax dodgers, sources save indicated.

Greece has until the Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers on March 11 to complete all of the pending prior actions it needs to secure the disbursement of 1-billion-euro from creditors, the Euro Working Group decided in Brussels on Friday.

The Energy Ministry will table a bill in Parliament on Thursday aimed at closing all the crucial energy issues that remain open ahead of the Euro Working Group of this Friday.

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici demonstrated on Monday that the post-program patience of Greece's creditors regarding Athens's delays and backtracking on points agreed has limits. Asked whether Greece will collect eurozone central banks' earnings from Greek bond holdings, he pointed to the compliance report on February 27.

Greece's creditors expressed disappointment regarding their recent visit to Athens during Thursday's session of the Euro Working Group.

A series of developments on the European level, and not just fiscal outperformance in Greece, influenced the Euro Working Group (EWG) decision last Thursday to give Athens the green light to suspend the reduction of 1.2 million pensions in a way that would not generate reactions in European capitals.