There will only be one good agreement…this negotiation has dragged on enough…it will include the pension system, labor market and the public debt,” Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Friday. In a radio interview, Varoufakis said there was convergence in most fronts and daily progress during negotiations and stressed that the final deadline was June 30, when an extension of the lending contract would be completed. He also noted that leaks of a one-week ultimatum sent by the Euro Working Group “were not helping negotiations.” The Greek FinMin said the two sides have not reached an agreement on reforming a VAT system, but that Greek authorities and its creditors were now discussing the same reform model. “The final proposal will have three VAT rates,” Varoufakis said. He declined to offer more details and criticized Greek press for its coverage of negotiations so far. According to the latest Greek proposal, the FinMin said, a reduced VAT will be introduced on food and restaurants, but a higher VAT will be introduced on hotels bringing them to European standards. Varoufakis said it was unacceptable to discuss a tax on bank transactions and noted that “thankfully” this proposal was withdrawn from the table because of the strong resistance by the Finance ministry. He repeated that the reason that negotiations have not been completed so far was the austerity asked by the institutions and explained that the institutions demanded what they called “parametric measures.” Varoufakis said that the institutions demanded permanent fiscal measures that lead to recession but noted that the government will not accept permanent recessionary measures. He said that a property tax current imposed was “an unacceptable tax” and stressed that the government has not yet decided on keeping it. “It is part of negotiations,” he noted. He added that the government “might accept some unjust measures for a period of time to avoid others,” but noted that the government will seek alternative measures to abolish the repulsive property tax. Commenting on car taxation, Varoufakis said the ministry did not plan to put extra burden on consumers who bought new generation diesel engine cars. Responding to a journalist question whether he will be Finance minister after an agreement with the institutions, Varoufakis said: “Personally I am not the kind of man that drops down his sword.” (source: ana-mpa)
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