Greece will cover March financing gap, bridge deal will not be put to vote: gov't spokesman

Greece's government will cover the financing gap the country faces this month after the expiry of the four-year bailout on February 28, Greek government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis assured local media on Monday.

"There is no reason for concern. The Greek government will examine solutions to meet all financial obligations within March," he stressed during an interview with a Greek radio.

The bridge agreement Athens reached with the Eurogroup on February 20 for a four-month extension of the bailout arrangement until a final deal on the Greek debt crisis is signed, foresees the release of funds to Greece after a review of commitments is undertaken in April.

In the past week, the debt-laden country has acknowledged that it faces liquidity issues and seeks solutions to meet a repayment of a maturing loan worth 1.5 billion euro (1.68 billion U.S. dollars) to the International Monetary Fund in March, as well as other financing needs.

With a potential credit event looming over Greece, Athens was in contact with creditors to overcome the imminent obstacle, in the event the government is not able to collect the necessary funds on time, Sakellaridis said.

Athens has argued that the matter could be easily resolved by raising the ceiling on the Greek treasury bill sales or returning the 1.9 billion euros worth of profits the European Central Bank made from buying Greek bonds.

Greece's international lenders have underlined over the past few days that they expect concrete progress from Athens in implementing structural reforms before agreeing to give the country any more financial space to maneuver.

At the same time, the newly elected Left-led administration faces increasing domestic pressure. During marathon meetings of the ruling Radical Left Syriza party of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras over the past week, critics of the February 20 agreement within the party publicly opposed it.

A resolution calling for the full implementation of the party's pre-election pledges tabled at Syriza's central committee meeting during the weekend received only a 40 percent approval. Political analysts in Athens commented that it was a stark warning to the leadership to reconsider any more concessions which would shift the party further away from pre-election promises.

Against this backdrop, on Monday, Sakellaridis confirmed earlier reports that the government would not put the bridging agreement to vote at the parliament.

The assembly would debate on the deal, but it was not legally necessary to be ratified by legislators, since it was an extension of an existing deal, the official argued.

Instead, the government is to table the first series of draft laws to address the humanitarian crisis, to offer a new framework for the settlement of overdue debts to the state in 100 installments, and to protect primary residences from auctions.

With international lenders objecting to some draft bills, it was not clarified when the assembly would vote on the draft laws. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit