Greece reform proposals received 'on time'

The reforms arrived a day after Greece's new government had originally promised to deliver the details of how it planned to comply with the terms of the bailout funded by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, while at the same time keeping its campaign promise to roll back austerity measures.

However, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas announced on Tuesday morning that it had received the package of proposed reforms "on time."

If the EU finance ministers are satisfied with the reform proposals, they are expected to agree to extend Greece's current bailout by four months. Should they decide against extending the rescue package, it is widely thought that Athens could run out of money as soon as the weekend.

Tackling tax-evasion, corruption

According to a statement released by the office of Greece's left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday, the six-page list of reforms was to included measures to fight tax evasion, and corruption, reduce bureaucracy and address what the Syriza-led government has described as the humanitarian crisis in the country. This, it has blamed on the austerity measures implemented by the previous conservative government to comply with the terms of the 240-billion-euro ($271-billion) bailout that kept Athens from plunging into insolvency four years ago.

Tsipras and his finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, agreed on Friday after marathon talks with their EU partners to draw up the new list of reforms by Monday, in what was widely seen as a major climbdown, after they had previously said they would scrap all austerity measures. On Monday, the Eurogroup reportedly extended the deadline for receiving the proposals until Tuesday morning.

pfd/rc (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)