di: Andrea Perrone - rinascitaeu -
Grecia: il Parlamento è esautorato
I Paesi europei creditori della Grecia chiedono che entro la fine del mese siano approvati 38 cambiamenti specifici nel fisco, nella spesa pubblica e nelle politiche salariali, oltre a una serie di riforme da attuare nei prossimi due anni. Le richieste, contenute in tre documenti per un totale di 90 pagine, visionate dal quotidiano della City, Financial Times, sono il prezzo accettato da Atene in cambio del nuovo prestito a tassi d’usura da 130 miliardi di euro. La lista delle misure comprende indicazioni di massima e di dettaglio, che vanno dalla modifica delle procedure giudiziarie, delle assicurazioni e del catasto all’acquisto di sistemi informatici per l’Agenzia delle entrate, alle prescrizioni di farmaci e allo stoccaggio di greggio.
In dieci pagine sono racchiuse le azioni prioritarie, da approvare
entro mercoledì: la riduzione della spesa farmaceutica per 1,1 miliardi di
euro, il completamento di centinaia di verifiche fiscali e la liberalizzazione
di attività come quelle dei parrucchieri, delle guide turistiche e dei centri
per le diete. I 38 provvedimenti urgenti, che riguardano tutti i settori
dell'economia nazionale, andranno presi attraverso diversi iter: leggi
parlamentari, circolari ministeriali e decreti presidenziali. Pochissimi
interventi sono già stati attuati o sono in fase di attuazione: tra questi i
tagli alle pensioni per 300 milioni di euro e altri tagli alla spesa pubblica
per 325 milioni. Entro il primo semestre dovranno essere ultimate altre
riforme; si tratta, in molti, casi, di quelle strutturali concordate nel primo
piano di salvataggio, nel 2010. Entro settembre dovranno essere aperte le
professioni più chiuse, come quelle dei farmacisti e degli avvocati, e
liberalizzate le licenze dei taxi. La legge in materia è già passata, ma i
decreti attuativi sono stati più volte rinviati sotto la pressione degli
scioperi. Lo stesso vale per gli appalti della sanità.
==================
Athens told to change spending and taxes
by Peter Spiegel in Brussels, Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin and Kerin Hope in Athens
European creditor countries are demanding 38 specific
changes in Greek tax, spending and wage policies by the end of this month and
have laid out extra reforms that amount to micromanaging the country’s
government for two years, according to documents obtained by the Financial
Times.
The reforms, spelt out in three separate memoranda of a
combined 90 pages, are the price that Greece has agreed to pay to obtain a
€130bn second bail-out and avoid a sovereign default that the government feared
would throw Greek society into turmoil.
They range from the sweeping – overhauling judicial
procedures, centralising health insurance, completing an accurate land registry
– to the mundane – buying a new computer system for tax collectors, changing
the way drugs are prescribed and setting minimum crude oil stocks.
“The programme is much, much more ambitious than economic
reform,” said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe analyst at the Eurasia Group risk
consultancy. “This Is state building, as typically understood in traditional
lowincome contexts.” Most urgency is attached to a 10-page list of “prior
actions”
that must be completed by Wednesday in order for eurozone
finance ministers to give a final sign-off to the new bail-out at an emergency
meeting scheduled for Thursday.
The 38 measures are a mix of laws that must be passed by
parliament, ministerial decisions and presidential decrees that affect a
complete cross-section of Greek economic activity, from health spending to
municipal administration to tax collection.
Only a handful of the measures are listed as passed or in
the process of being implemented, including a highly publicised €300m in
pension reductions and €325m in other spending cuts. The other reforms are
grouped under six categories, though most of the changes fall under spending
cuts, bank regulations, and economic reforms.
Among the measures that must be completed in the next
seven days are reducing state spending on pharmaceuticals by €1.1bn; completing
75 full-scale audits and 225 value added tax audits of large taxpayers; and
liberalising professions such as beauty salons, tour guides and diet centres.
Even the longer-term reforms must be completed quickly. A
draft 49-page “memorandum of understanding on specific economic policy
conditionality”, dated February 9, includes dozens of measures that must be
completed in the first half of the year.
Many structural measures were agreed in 2010 as part of
Greece’s first rescue package but were blocked by influential interest groups,
trade unions and some senior finance ministry officials.
The opening up of closed professions – including
pharmacists, lawyers, and truck and taxi-drivers – was due in September 2010,
for example. While legislation liberalising 130 sectors was passed last year,
back-up measures needed to implement the law were postponed indefinitely after
a fierce backlash, including a three-week strike by taxi drivers at the height
of the tourist season. Similarly, a delay in reforms of healthcare procurement,
which are opposed by doctors, medical suppliers and hospital managers, meant
that savings of only €500m were achieved in 2011 against a target of €1bn,
leaving the missing amount to be collected this year.
Mr Rahman said the scale and the speed of the reforms
demanded raised questions about whether sceptical eurozone lenders were setting
up Greece to fail sometime within the next year.
“Even if one understands the political imperative, the
programme is being set up to fail as many of the targets will be impossible to
achieve,” he said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012.
Grecia: il Parlamento è esautorato
I Paesi europei creditori della Grecia chiedono che entro la fine del mese siano approvati 38 cambiamenti specifici nel fisco, nella spesa pubblica e nelle politiche salariali, oltre a una serie di riforme da attuare nei prossimi due anni. Le richieste, contenute in tre documenti per un totale di 90 pagine, visionate dal quotidiano della City, Financial Times, sono il prezzo accettato da Atene in cambio del nuovo prestito a tassi d’usura da 130 miliardi di euro. La lista delle misure comprende indicazioni di massima e di dettaglio, che vanno dalla modifica delle procedure giudiziarie, delle assicurazioni e del catasto all’acquisto di sistemi informatici per l’Agenzia delle entrate, alle prescrizioni di farmaci e allo stoccaggio di greggio.
In dieci pagine sono racchiuse le azioni prioritarie, da approvare
entro mercoledì: la riduzione della spesa farmaceutica per 1,1 miliardi di
euro, il completamento di centinaia di verifiche fiscali e la liberalizzazione
di attività come quelle dei parrucchieri, delle guide turistiche e dei centri
per le diete. I 38 provvedimenti urgenti, che riguardano tutti i settori
dell'economia nazionale, andranno presi attraverso diversi iter: leggi
parlamentari, circolari ministeriali e decreti presidenziali. Pochissimi
interventi sono già stati attuati o sono in fase di attuazione: tra questi i
tagli alle pensioni per 300 milioni di euro e altri tagli alla spesa pubblica
per 325 milioni. Entro il primo semestre dovranno essere ultimate altre
riforme; si tratta, in molti, casi, di quelle strutturali concordate nel primo
piano di salvataggio, nel 2010. Entro settembre dovranno essere aperte le
professioni più chiuse, come quelle dei farmacisti e degli avvocati, e
liberalizzate le licenze dei taxi. La legge in materia è già passata, ma i
decreti attuativi sono stati più volte rinviati sotto la pressione degli
scioperi. Lo stesso vale per gli appalti della sanità.
==================
Athens told to change spending and taxes
by Peter Spiegel in Brussels, Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin and Kerin Hope in Athens
European creditor countries are demanding 38 specific
changes in Greek tax, spending and wage policies by the end of this month and
have laid out extra reforms that amount to micromanaging the country’s
government for two years, according to documents obtained by the Financial
Times.
The reforms, spelt out in three separate memoranda of a
combined 90 pages, are the price that Greece has agreed to pay to obtain a
€130bn second bail-out and avoid a sovereign default that the government feared
would throw Greek society into turmoil.
They range from the sweeping – overhauling judicial
procedures, centralising health insurance, completing an accurate land registry
– to the mundane – buying a new computer system for tax collectors, changing
the way drugs are prescribed and setting minimum crude oil stocks.
“The programme is much, much more ambitious than economic
reform,” said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe analyst at the Eurasia Group risk
consultancy. “This Is state building, as typically understood in traditional
lowincome contexts.” Most urgency is attached to a 10-page list of “prior
actions”
that must be completed by Wednesday in order for eurozone
finance ministers to give a final sign-off to the new bail-out at an emergency
meeting scheduled for Thursday.
The 38 measures are a mix of laws that must be passed by
parliament, ministerial decisions and presidential decrees that affect a
complete cross-section of Greek economic activity, from health spending to
municipal administration to tax collection.
Only a handful of the measures are listed as passed or in
the process of being implemented, including a highly publicised €300m in
pension reductions and €325m in other spending cuts. The other reforms are
grouped under six categories, though most of the changes fall under spending
cuts, bank regulations, and economic reforms.
Among the measures that must be completed in the next
seven days are reducing state spending on pharmaceuticals by €1.1bn; completing
75 full-scale audits and 225 value added tax audits of large taxpayers; and
liberalising professions such as beauty salons, tour guides and diet centres.
Even the longer-term reforms must be completed quickly. A
draft 49-page “memorandum of understanding on specific economic policy
conditionality”, dated February 9, includes dozens of measures that must be
completed in the first half of the year.
Many structural measures were agreed in 2010 as part of
Greece’s first rescue package but were blocked by influential interest groups,
trade unions and some senior finance ministry officials.
The opening up of closed professions – including
pharmacists, lawyers, and truck and taxi-drivers – was due in September 2010,
for example. While legislation liberalising 130 sectors was passed last year,
back-up measures needed to implement the law were postponed indefinitely after
a fierce backlash, including a three-week strike by taxi drivers at the height
of the tourist season. Similarly, a delay in reforms of healthcare procurement,
which are opposed by doctors, medical suppliers and hospital managers, meant
that savings of only €500m were achieved in 2011 against a target of €1bn,
leaving the missing amount to be collected this year.
Mr Rahman said the scale and the speed of the reforms
demanded raised questions about whether sceptical eurozone lenders were setting
up Greece to fail sometime within the next year.
“Even if one understands the political imperative, the
programme is being set up to fail as many of the targets will be impossible to
achieve,” he said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012.
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