Greece just outlined its new demands to Europe
The proposal, first reported by prominent Greek news agency ANA-MPA, will be presented at a meeting of the Eurogroup on Wednesday.
These are the main points:
- A "bridge" agreement on funding (a loan to tide Greece over through the spring and summer) until a wider deal can be negotiated in September.
- 70% of the current structural reform programme will be completed.
- 10 further reforms will be agreed with the OECD.
- Greece will run a 1.5% government primary surplus (raising more in tax than it spends on everything except debt interest), rather than the 3% currently planned.
- Debt relief - probably in the form of debt swaps Varoufakis has previously proposed.
- A bundle of measures to ease Greece's social crisis, like subsidised meals for low-income and unemployed families, costing less than €2 billion.
Many of the points look quite reasonable. After Tsipras' showdown speech on Sunday, implementing 70% of the planned structural reforms sounds like quite a lot. Pledging to continue running a primary surplus (even one smaller than currently planned) is also a concession toward Europe.
It remains to be seen how open European governments are to changes. Some, like Finland and Germany, have signaled very little intention of changing course, and even debt swaps (less of a giveaway than the write-offs Syriza wanted) may be too much to bear.
Either way, it's clear that Varoufakis is trying to make his programme seem reasonable and considered, leaving any finance ministers who disagree looking like heartless Scrooges.