The Greek government is racing to complete a lengthy checklist of reforms demanded by international lenders before the end of February to unlock a €130 billion bailout.
The tough conditions and the short timetable reflect the collapse of trust between Greece and its trio of lenders – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – after Athens failed to live up to the terms of a previous €110 billion bailout agreed nearly two years ago.
The latest demands include dozens of “prior actions” that Greece must deliver as a condition of the rescue – from sacking underperforming tax collectors to passing legislation to liberalise the country’s closed professions, tightening rules against bribery, and readying at least two large state-controlled companies for sale by June. Greece will have just nine days to complete those and a slew of other unpopular measures to lay claim to the money and avoid a disorderly default next month that could force the country out of the single currency and trigger turmoil across the eurozone.
The bailout deal, agreed by eurozone finance ministers after more than 13 hours of talks, involves bigger than expected haircuts on private bondholders and lower rates of interest on eurozone loans to Athens. The ECB and national central banks will earmark income from their Greek bond holdings either to reduce further Greece’s debt burden or to compensate eurozone governments. Welcoming the deal, Evangelos Venizelos, Greece’s finance minister, said a “nightmare scenario” had been avoided. “This was a significant development that gives our country a new opportunity, and we need to make the most of this opportunity”, Mr Venizelos said, urging citizens to “put behind us this sense of misery and despair and build a new national social contract”.
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