Greek deal not to come before Easter

The president of the European Council has ruled out the possibility of a deal on Greece bailout before the Easter, saying that such an agreement will certainly come after that time which falls on April 5 this year.

Donald Tusk said Tuesday that the process to finalize the unblocking of a loan worth 7.2 billion euros (USD 7.8 billion) to Greece is expected to take time and Athens could not count on the money at least before the Easter.

“The process of assessment of this plan is very complex and I don’t foresee any breakthrough before Easter,” Tusk said.

Experts from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are going through the details of a list of economic reforms provided by Athens, which could unblock the loan.

Athens claims the measures would create an extra 3 billion euros without resorting to austerity measures, including cuts in wages and pensions.

“I think that today we can say that the (economic) situation in Greece is under control,” Tusk said.

Athens is in serious need of receiving the promised loan by the EU to save its economy from bankruptcy.

Dimitris Mardas, Greece’s deputy finance Minister, had earlier expressed hope that the deal could be reached this week.

“We are heading towards an agreement with our partners tomorrow (Wednesday) or the day after (Thursday),” Mardas said in an interview with a Greek TV station earlier in the day, adding that for him, reaching a final agreement with EU creditors will be possible until end of April.

Athens is supposed to repay parts of its short-term debt in April, which is around 2.4 billion euros. That will be followed by another 820-million-euro installment, of which 460 million euros should be rolled over to the IMF.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has warned that he will not accept unconditional demands from EU creditors in return for the promised deal.