The Greek government is in constant communication with its European loan partners in order to achieve the maximum consensus regarding its list of reforms to be submitted by midnight. According to government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis, the list will include, among others, measures to tackle tax evasion and corruption. In an interview with Greek “Skai TV,” Sakellaridis stressed that the list has not yet been fully prepared and therefore it has not been sent to Brussels, but it will be ready by the end of Monday, as required by the Eurozone member-states under the deal signed on Friday to extend Greece’s loan agreement until April. “It will include reforms that will aim to crack down on tax evasion and corruption so that taxes are allotted in a way that will be more fair in social terms,” Sakellaridis highlighted. It should be noted that according to Friday’s Eurogroup agreement, Greece secured a four-month extension of the loan agreement without new austerity measures and a commitment that no unilateral actions will be taken. The Greek government’s first gain has a semiological rather than a practical impact, as the EC/ECB/IMF mechanism ceases to exist, as well as the term “Troika,” which gained negative publicity among the Greeks, although these “institutions” are still the ones to oversee the Greek extended loan agreement progress. Similarly, yesterday’s arrangement introduced the term “Master Financial Assistance Facility Agreement” (MFFA) that will replace the term “program.” Most importantly though, Greece, after avoiding the danger of a liquidity shortage that would occur at the end of February due to the current program’s expiry, has until Monday to present its own list of reform measures. These will no longer be agreed with the creditors, but will be designed by the Greek government, presented to the institutions and finally approved by the Eurogroup. This list will be further specified and then agreed with the institutions by the end of April. “The list will be submitted and I am absolutely certain it will be approved. We are drawing it up as we speak, it will be completed tomorrow,” Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said while exiting a meeting with the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday.
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