Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-10-20

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece's debt discussed at Tsipras-Schulz meeting in Brussels, sources say

[02] Greece and institutions to launch negotiations for 2nd programme review on Friday

[01] Greece's debt discussed at Tsipras-Schulz meeting in Brussels, sources say

Tsipras raised the issue of the debt and said the Greek government intended to wrap up the second review of the Greek programme quickly and within deadlines, the sources added. The Greek prime minister also pointed out that completion of the second review was linked to the May agreement on Greece's debt, expressing his desire that a solution shall be found by the end of this year that will make the debt sustainable.

The sources reported that Schulz appeared open to Greek positions and noted that the European Parliament, especially the Economic Affairs and Employment Committees, have helped to promote the discussion on the debt and will continue to do so.

Tsipras is scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday morning, while sources said that meetings on the sidelines of the summit will also take place with French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

[02] Greece and institutions to launch negotiations for 2nd programme review on Friday

The start of talks was delayed a few days but the government's financial team has indicated that the review must be concluded before the Eurogroup on December 5. In this way, Eurogroup ministers will be able to make a decision on debt relief for Greece that will allow it to join the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE) programme.

The issues to be negotiated include changes in labour law, the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework and primary surpluses, out-of-court dispute resolution for non-performing loans, greater competition in the engineering profession, licensing and energy market, public administration, privatisations and staffing for the new privatisation fund.

Sources said that the heads of the institutions' missions for Greece will remain in Athens for roughly a week and then return after the Eurogroup meeting on November 7 since the first week of the next month is considered a holiday in Europe.

The scheduled meetings on Friday, according to finance ministry sources, are as follows:

10:00 - 11:30 Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, to discuss the new 'hyperfund'

11:30 - 12:00 Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, on state arrears

12:00 - 13:00 Education Minister Nikos Filis, on education

16:00 - 17:00 Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos, on corruption

17:00 - 18:00 Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis, on energy and land cadastre

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