ATHENS, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A new draft bill, that includes the main guidelines and steps of Greece's economic policy for the next four years after the end of the third bailout program, was tabled in parliament on Friday.
The draft bill, known as the Medium Term Financial Framework 2019 -2022, includes about 50 "prior actions" -- or "key deliverables" as the European Commission says -- with which ending the memoranda period.
The draft bill provides for high budgetary surpluses for this period, as well as restrictions and measures to make the plan feasible.
The objective is to achieve primary surpluses of 3.5 percent of GDP at the end of this four-year period.
It means 1.3 billion euros of surplus in 2019, 2.26 billion euros of surplus in 2020, 4.2 billion euros in 2021 and 2.5 billion euros in 2022.
Once the plan put in place, a financial "space" is created each year giving the government the margin of maneuver to take permanent relief measures.
The government sees room to cut taxes by about 700 million euros in 2019. It says 1.2 billion euros will be available with 75 percent going to tax cuts and 25 percent to higher spending.
By 2022, the extra money will reach 3.5 billion euros with half going to taxes and half to spending.
Greek Finance Minister Euclidis Tsakalotos confirmed in an interview with a Greek newspaper that from 2019 there will be tax cuts.
"Greece seems to have managed to return with dynamism and credibility to the international financial markets. All macroeconomic data and indicators show that the country has left the crisis behind it," Costas Zachariadis, director of the ruling SYRIZA party's Parliamentary Group, told Xinhua.
He noted that "the economy was growing in the last five quarters, and in the last quarter at a rate of over 2 percent, unemployment rate has fallen, normality is beginning to return. The country regains its financial viability and in a few months it will gain more freedom in politics."
However, Panayotis Petrakis, professor in the Department of Economics at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, told Xinhua that the four-year framework "is a relatively optimistic program for the Greek economy that predicts too high surpluses" Among other items, the draft bill reiterates the pledge for new pension cuts and a ceiling on spending for wages in the public sector, social security and health.
The draft also includes changing legal framework on primary residences, promoting labor sector liberalization and accelerating privatizations.
Petrakis said "the implementation of the program depends on the achievement of the investment objective." He said there may be room for significant tax relief, but so far the government does not choose this option.
Zachariadis said the next period's challenge is to regain social sustainability, heal the great social woes left by the crisis and build an economy that is outward-looking and productive.
The bill is expected to be ratified by the parliament until June 14. In this case, the government can have a positive compliance report in its hands on the June 21 Eurogroup, where Athens wants the discussion to focus on debt relief.
