Creditor talks resume in Greece amid Wikileaks row
(ATHENS) - Greece on Monday resumed reform talks with its creditors, including the International Monetary Fund, amid leaks claiming the global lender was toying with the idea of a Greek default.
With IMF chief Christine Lagarde dismissing this as "nonsense", Greek ministers will try over the next few days to bridge differences on the country's budget goals and the scope of ongoing pension and tax overhauls.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he was confident the latest audit would be concluded by April 22.
"For the first time in six years... there is nearly complete agreement on estimates on the fiscal effort required to close the audit between the Greek government and European institutions," Tsipras told his lawmakers, adding that he had "full backing" for his view that the talks had to conclude within days.
Before the speech, Tsipras had spoken by telephone to French President Francois Hollande and US Vice President Joe Biden.
The creditor talks opened days after Athens angrily demanded explanations over a WikiLeaks report saying the IMF was looking for a crisis "event" to push the indebted nation and European negotiators into accepting its fiscal targets.
The whistle-blowing website released what it said was a March 19 conversation between Iva Petrova and Delia Velculescu, who have been representing the IMF in the negotiations with Greece, and Poul Thomsen, director of the Fund's European department.
"In the past there has been only one time when the decision has been made and then that was when (the Greeks) were about to run out of money seriously and to default," Thomson is quoted as saying in the transcript.
Later in the conversation, Velculescu reportedly replied: "I agree that we need an event, but I don't know what that will be."
After Tsipras wrote to Lagarde to complain, she made public her reply on Sunday.
"Any speculation that IMF staff would consider using a credit event as a negotiating tactic is simply nonsense," she wrote.
Tsipras's leftist government has rarely seen eye to eye with the global lender. Last year he said the Washington-based organisation carried "criminal responsibility" for Greece's austerity-driven recession woes.
More recently Tsipras has accused the IMF of employing "stalling tactics" and "arbitrary" estimates to delay the reforms review which is crucial to unlock further bailout cash.
- 'Unrealistic' IMF forecasts -
On Monday, he fired another broadside, arguing the IMF had repeatedly got its figures wrong about the impact its policies would have on stifling Greek economic growth.
"Nearly every IMF prediction has turned out to be unrealistic," he said, pointing to recession and growth estimates between 2010 and 2013 that were not borne out.
In July, Greece grudgingly accepted a three-year, 86-billion-euro ($94 billion) European Union bailout that saved it from crashing out of the eurozone. But the bailout came with strict conditions such as fresh tax and pay cuts.
Tsipras on Monday said the IMF is now pushing for wage cuts, layoff legislation and broader home foreclosures that are not part of this deal.
However, one key point that the IMF is fighting to convince the Europeans to accept is debt relief, which Greece itself badly wants.
Lagarde replied in kind earlier Monday, wondering whether this sort of atmosphere is conducive to an agreement.
"This weekend's incident has made me concerned as to whether we can indeed achieve progress in a climate of extreme sensitivity to statements of either side," Lagarde wrote to Tsipras.
She also called on the Greek leader to make sure that no further leaks occur.
"It is critical that your authorities ensure an environment that respects the privacy of their internal discussions and take all necessary steps to guarantee their personal safety," she added.
The IMF worked with the EU on two previous bailouts for Greece since 2010 but the Washington-based lender said it would not participate in the third rescue plan without credible reforms and an EU agreement to ease Greece's debt burden.