Greek government submits economic reform proposalsJuly 10, 2015 - 09:35 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Greek government has submitted economic reform proposals to try to secure a further bailout from its creditors, eurozone officials say, according to BBC News. They say they received the plan late on Thursday, July 9, just two hours before a midnight deadline. They will now study it ahead of EU meetings at the weekend. The measures include tax rises, pension reforms, privatization and spending cuts, Greek media say. Greece needs a third bailout to avoid a default and a possible euro exit. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the 19-member eurozone group of finance ministers, confirmed that he had received the Greek proposals. Earlier, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spent the day seeking agreement on the reforms from his government partners. On Friday, the Greek parliament will vote on Tsipras' proposals. The plan will be then considered by eurozone finance ministers on Saturday, and by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Sunday. According to Greek media reports, the measures submitted on Thursday include: -tax rise on shipping companies and scrapping tax discounts for islands -unifying VAT rates at standard 23%, including restaurants and catering -phasing out solidarity grant for pensioners by 2019 -€300mln ($332mln) defense spending cuts by 2016 Earlier on Thursday, European Council President Donald Tusk said creditors would need to respond to Greece's reform plans with a "realistic proposal on debt sustainability". German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out debt reduction, saying she was against "the classic haircut". Greek banks have been closed for nearly a fortnight with limits placed on cash withdrawals. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |