European leaders are pushing to impose measures that would ensure the Greek government lives up to its promise to deliver €50bn ($70bn) in privatisation proceeds, amid scepticism that Athens can carry out the sell-offs.
The privatisation plan, spelt out in detail for the first time by the Greek government on Monday, has become a central issue in Europe-wide deliberations over how to overhaul Greece’s faltering €110bn bail-out programme.
With political opposition to new loans to Greece growing in several northern eurozone countries and the European Central Bank adamantly against any restructuring of Greek debt, European leaders see the privatisation plan as the best hope of staving off insolvency.