Greek creditors seek third reform wave before loan

International creditors want Greece to enact a third wave of politically sensitive reforms before they release any money to keep the near bankrupt country afloat under a third bailout they began negotiating yesterday.

The government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pushed two packages of measures through parliament this month as a condition for talks on a three-year loan worth up to €86bn to keep Greece in the eurozone.

Technical talks, delayed for several days by logistical issues, began as former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis confirmed he had made secret plans to hack into citizens’ tax codes to issue a parallel currency if necessary. Varoufakis said Tspiras had initially approved contingency planning by a five-person unit in his ministry — led by US economist James Galbraith but had refused to give the green light to activate the plan after Greece had to close its banks and impose capital controls on June 28. The outspoken minister resigned a week later.

Figures issued by the ECB showed Greek banks lost 6% of all deposits, worth €8bn, in June alone as previous bailout talks foundered and the leftist government called a referendum to reject the terms. A spokeswoman for the European Commission said teams of experts from the creditor institutions were now in Athens. “Work has started, meaning that the institutions are talking to the Greek authorities,” she said.

Reuters