Greece still can not breathe a sigh of relief

(Baonghean.vn) - The Greek debt crisis has just had a new positive development, when ngroup 19BChiefTEurozone financeYesterdayreach an agreementng,agreed to disburse 10.3 billion euros in the new bailout package and begin restructuring Athens' debt as required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).More money is being disbursed, but is the future of the Greek debt crisis really brighter?

New step

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces many difficulties. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.

After many hours of discussion and much controversy, the amount of money disbursed to Greece was finally agreed upon by EU finance ministers. 10.3 billion euros, equivalent to 12 billion USD, is considered a reward from the Eurogroup finance ministers for Greece's recent efforts.

Eurogroup President and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem stressed that this is an important moment marking Greece's long-term efforts at "belt-tightening" and tax reform.

Not only that, this agreement is also important for all parties involved in this negotiation. Remember last summer, the trust between the parties fell into a serious crisis and the Greek debt crisis seemed to be at a standstill.

Thus, according to the plan just approved, 10.3 billion euros will be disbursed in two installments: the first installment of 7.5 billion euros in June and the second installment of more than 2.5 billion euros in September. Another good news is that after this meeting, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed that it will participate in the Greek bailout program. This is really a good sign because throughout the past time, negotiations between Greece, the European Union and the IMF have always been at a standstill.

The reason is that the parties cannot agree on a viewpoint. On the one hand, Germany has always opposed debt reduction for Greece and believes that the country will only be allowed to reduce its debt in 2018 if it fully implements its commitments when receiving the bailout package.

On the other hand, the IMF considered this a basic condition for continuing to fund the third bailout package for Athens. The situation at that time was very difficult when Greece urgently needed the next disbursement to repay its huge debt to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF in July, and to pay for the stagnant public spending.

Joy "is not as long as a piece of iron"

European finance ministers and Eurogroup President and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem agree on a new bailout package for Greece. Photo: euractiv.com.

However, receiving a temporary disbursement of 10.3 billion euros cannot make Greece breathe a sigh of relief. Because although the IMF has confirmed its participation in the Greek bailout, this organization has also recently made the assessment that, with the current public debt level of up to 180% of GDP, Greece is unlikely to be able to pay and needs debt relief.

In addition, the IMF has just released a report emphasizing that without debt restructuring, Athens could fall into an extremely difficult situation with a public debt of up to 250% of GDP by 2060. This will be a terrible future for the Greek people and government if there are no fundamental solutions.

That is the distant future, but in the near future, internal pressure in the political arena as well as from the people will also be a huge difficulty for the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Because right before the meeting of the Eurozone finance ministers, the Greek Parliament had to work very hard to pass measures including pension cuts and tax increases to increase the state budget according to the goals set by the creditors.

Just like on May 8, these measures received the support of only 153 members of the ruling coalition out of 300 members of the Greek parliament. The only votes against were from opposition members. Meanwhile, because the new taxes will cost each Greek citizen about a month's salary - equivalent to about 810 euros/person/year, tens of thousands of people immediately gathered outside the parliament building to protest.

Thus, although the immediate tension has been eased with the new 10.3 billion euro bailout, the pressure on Greece's public debt remains. The upcoming negotiations between creditors will certainly still have disagreements regarding debt relief for Greece.

Meanwhile, difficulties are piling up as Prime Minister Tsipras's government is under great pressure from the opposition. Recently, the main opposition party in Greece, the Democratic Party, accused the government of being incapable of resolving the debt problem and was responsible for the delay in negotiations. The party also demanded the government's resignation and early elections.

As for the people, the oppressive “belt-tightening” life will certainly bring Greeks back to the streets, even causing clashes and attacks. All these challenges are weighing heavily on Prime Minister Tsipras’s shoulders, making it difficult for him to rest easy.

Khang Duy