Troika-gov’t negotiations still ‘open’ on key issues

“Today we did not reach any conclusions; both sides are still evaluating actions,” the Finance Ministry official said.

The source said that it was hoped negotiations would come to a conclusion before Prime Minister Antonis Samaras leaves for the European Summit meeting of heads of state, scheduled in Brussels on March 14 and 15. To that

effect, the troika is scheduled to meet again with the Administrative Reform Ministry leadership on Monday over the reduction of staff in the public sector and the price of pharmaceuticals, both key issues in the schedule for the release of the next loan tranche to Greece of 2.8 billion euros.amna

Other issues that need to be resolved relate to the settlement of debts to the state and the unified tax on real estate, which has been collected through the Public Power Corporation (PPC) bills.amna

At the same time, the pressure is on the government to announce the new head of the Hellenic Republic Assets Development Fund (HRADF). The president of the agency, which oversees privatisations for the state, resigned on Saturday, along with the Finance Ministry secretary general, after being served criminal charges in connection with a case of alleged mismanagement involving the former board of the PPC in 2007.

source: ΑΜΝΑ