Greece has yet to agree with its partners on a comprehensive list of reforms to secure €7.2 billion remaining from its €240 billion EU/IMF bailout.
Tsipras is still weaving between breaking with unpopular austerity policies and reform measures demanded by Greece’s creditors to unlock urgently needed international bailout funds. While the Greek PM says he won't back down from his non-negotiable “red lines” on labor and pension issues, the government is willing to proceed with its planned reforms including an adjustment to Greece’s VAT system, and the preservation of the “ENFIA” real estate tax, a lucrative levy that Tsipras promised to abolish during his election campaign earlier this year.
The government will also back down on its pre-election pledges concerning a gradual hike in the minimum wage and the reintroduction of the so-called 13th pension, a bonus Christmas payment. The restoration of the extra payment to over a million pensioners would have cost a further €600 million to the government. The 13th and 14th pension payments have been replaced by a flat-rate payment of €700 (gross) under the new ‘Social Security’ Act imposed by the IMF-EU-ECB “troika” and the then Greek government in 2010.
Meanwhile Tsipras is receiving criticism from within his party, especially from the hard leftists, who believe that the government should not back down on its pre-election pledges and abandon the austerity policies imposed under the bailout agreement sealed by the last government. While Prime Minister Tsipras and Finance Minister Vroufakis profess devotion to the euro the hard left faction said that a break with the euro might be the only option. “Our only choice is a rupture with the creditors - suspending loan repayments, [bringing] measures to restrict free movement of capital, putting banks under state control, taxing capital and the wealthy to finance measures to support common people.” the group said.
The costs of the standoff are rising. Every day that passes without a deal costs the Greek economy €22.3 million and more than 600 jobs, according to a report published by the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Enterprises.