FinMin calls on troika to show realism in its demands, in FT interview

Stournaras said his government’s shrinking parliamentary majority has made it increasingly difficult to pass tough economic reform measures and called on the troika of international bailout lenders to be more realistic in its demands of Athens. “There are things that can be done and things that cannot be done,” he noted.
He was particularly critical of the troika’s negotiating style,

accusing top negotiators – from the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission – of adopting “a maximalist approach when in Athens that spooked both financial markets and domestic companies, and was risking the country’s nascent economic recovery”.
“During the period they were here, the markets were very weak,” Stournaras was quoted as saying. “We could even observe it in the turnover of shops. People have fear when the troika is here. This has to change,” he added.
Senior troika officials said the two sides are close to a deal on the budget gap, in which Athens has agreed to raise an additional 1.0 billion euros. But “they remain far apart on structural reforms,” they said, insisting that “Athens has implemented less than half of the measures they were supposed to in 2013″.
The Finance minister also expressed his belief that Athens could “test the markets” with a 1.5-2billion euro auction of five-year bonds in the second half of the year.

source: ΑΜΝΑ