pension cuts

'This is about the dignity of pensioners and demonstrates the importance of having a government that is concerned about pensioners,' he declared.

When one urges pensioners to hasten to submit applications, and when one promises to hand out that part of the primary surplus that exceeds targets one unavoidably stirs expectations that are difficult to meet.

The government is sparring with Greece’s creditors over the pension cuts issue, as the line from Brussels is that Athens cannot at once scrap legislated pension cuts and implement all the anti-austerity measures that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced at the September Thessaloniki International Fair, especially since revised divs on Greece’s growth rate in 2019 […]

In essence, despite continual promises and proclamations, there is no organised and cohesive growth plan. The first thing that is sacrificed in order to reach the primary surplus targets set by Greece’s lenders is public investment.

Everyone’s stance towards the pension problem was problematic. There were infinite warnings from the early 1990s about the impending “end of pensions”.

In a bid to stem the tide, government ministers have declared that they will appeal decisions that are favourable for the plaintiffs, and that they are just losing their time.

the Greek side is working on the sidelines to ensure at least the tolerance of those who disagree. That was the approach of Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos at meetings with IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Poul Thomsen, leaving European finance ministers to make the final decision.

In a boost for the government, Eurogroup chief Mario Centeno said today that the pension cuts are not a structural reform [as the IMF maintains], but rather a revenue-raising measure.

Despite the mixed signals from creditors, which Tsakalotos recognised, he said that, “We have the fiscal space not to cut pensions [as of 1 January, 2019] and not lower the tax-free threshold [as of 1 January 2020].

With a view to elections, the government clearly is more interested in not displeasing a large segment of the electorate than in dealing with the substance of the country’s development problem.

The IMF appears determined to make its views known on a political level, beginning with the representatives of eurozone member-states in the Eurogroup Working Group, on 20-21 September.

The Greek finance minister argued that the latest fiscal data justify the projection that there will be fiscal space beyond the 3.5 percent primary surplus target, not only for 2018, but for 2019 and subsequent years.

If creditors insist on implementation of the pension cuts, the government will be in an extremely tough spot, due to the huge outcry from retirees

Statements by the PM and Parliament Speaker Nikos Voutsis fueled scenarios of early elections.

The Greek Finance Ministry denied today’s report by the state-run Athens News Agency, which cites unnamed EU officials who said that the government and creditors have struck a deal to scrap pension cuts

A European Commission spokesman said that the only position that should be taken into account on pension cuts issue is the reply given in Latin by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, 'Pacta sunt servanda'

The finance minister argued that the fiscal space in 2019 will exceed the 700mn euros projected in the medium-term fiscal adjustment programme, and that this permits a rescinding of the cuts

Clearly, the prime minister is attempting to maintain a balance between his electoral planning, the pressures from within his party, and the country’s commitments to creditors.