Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-20

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Eurogroup: Institutions returning to Greece to hammer out a staff-level agreement

[02] Institutions returning to Athens after 'complete reversal' of climate at Eurogroup, say government sources

[03] Top court prosecutor requests investigation into report on shady bank loans

[01] Eurogroup: Institutions returning to Greece to hammer out a staff-level agreement

Speaking to journalists at a joint press conference with EU financial affairs chief Pierre Moscovici and re-elected Managing Director of European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Klaus Regling, Dijsselbloem said he was he was pleased eurozone's finance ministers were able to give the "green light" for the return of the institutions to Athens.

Dijsselbloem and Moscovici said there are issues that remain open for discussion but noted the need to exit from the policies of austerity. They also hailed the fiscal reform and the gradual return of growth to Greece.

[02] Institutions returning to Athens after 'complete reversal' of climate at Eurogroup, say government sources

The Greek side and the heads of the institutions have reached an agreement that technical teams will return to Athens immediately after next Monday - a holiday in Greece - in order to conclude a Staff Level Agreement (SLA) within a few days, the sources said.

According to the same sources, there will be no new austerity measures for Greece and "from 2019 onwards, for every euro paid in taxes there will be one euro of tax relief." The Greek side set an "inviolable condition" that there should be "not a single euro more" austerity and that the net result of any measures on the fiscal balance will be "absolutely neutral," they said.

In practical terms, this meant that Athens will examine a change in the policy mix from 2019 onward, without any further fiscal burden, the sources added.

Among the "bonuses" of the political agreement - though this had yet to be made specific on a staff level, was the possibility of an earlier return to normality for the labour market with collective bargaining before the end of the programme, according to the sources. They also highlighted the European Commission's commitment, to be examined at the next Eurogroup, that Greece be exempted from including a 3.0-billion-euro programme for creating at least 100,000 new jobs from state spending in the calculation of the primary surplus for the next 2.5 years. Greece is currently in negotiations for the financing of such a programme with the World Bank, in collaboration with European organisations.

[03] Top court prosecutor requests investigation into report on shady bank loans

Economic prosecutor Panagiotis Athanasiou will ascertain whether or not crimes were committed that should be prosecuted and if so, press charges against the relevant people. Dimitriou also told Athanasiou he may retrieve from the files an older prosecutors report on the same issue, dating from 2013.

The old report was filed after an amendment was tabled in parliament.

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