Troika

Greece’s public water companies, which had been slated to be privatized, will remain under state control, in line with a recent decision by the Council of State, it was decided on Monday during talks between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, his coalition partner Evangelos Venizelos and two key ministers.

Troika officials are due to meet Greece’s Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis on Monday to discuss the liberalization of the energy market.

The talks come in the wake of Greece passing a law last week allowing the sale of almost a third of its state energy monopoly, the Public Power Corporation.

Following a first day of talks between Greece's new finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis and troika envoys on Thursday, the foreign inspectors were to meet on Friday with several other ministers for briefings on the progress of a series of economic reforms pledged by Athens in return for continued rescue loans.

Eurozone officials meeting in Brussels on Monday gave the green light for the release of 1 billion euros in rescue loans for Greece but also urged authorities to push forward with pending reforms agreed with the country’s so-called troika of international creditors ahead of the scheduled return of inspectors to Athens this week.

Monday’s Eurogroup is expected to give the formal go-ahead for 1 billion euros in bailout funding to be released for Greece as the troika prepares to return to Athens.

A meeting is expected to take place between representative of the government, armed forces and emergency services at the State General Accounting Office on Tuesday to decide on how soldiers’ and policemen’s wages will be restored.

 PM, Venizelos to discuss prior actions

The government faces a difficult week as a controversial bill foreseeing the part-privatization of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) is set to go to Parliament on Wednesday amid vehement opposition by leftist SYRIZA and unionists to the measure, one of a series of so-called prior actions that Athens has pledged to the troika.

Tensions in the higher education sector escalated on Thursday as hundreds of administrative staff from Athens University protesting their induction into a civil service mobility scheme said they would stop working in a bid to prove that the cutbacks would leave the institution unable to operate.

As Greece’s new finance minister, Gikas Hardouvelis, prepares to face his eurozone counterparts for the first time at a summit in Luxembourg on Thursday, government officials insisted on Wednesday that Athens is committed to implementing reforms pledged to the troika despite suggestions by certain new ministers that some of the tougher measures can be avoided.

A delegation from the troika of international lenders on Tuesday began its fourth assessment of Cyprus’s economy and troubled banking system to see whether Nicosia is meeting its obligations under the bailout.