Mr. Schäuble stressed that he was not pushing the Greeks to take any particular course and that in any case he was only talking about a temporary exit from the euro. But coming a day before German lawmakers are to give the go-ahead to negotiate the details of the bailout package for Athens, his remarks were evidence of a continuing deep ambivalence among conservatives in Germany about the costs of keeping Greece in the currency zone and a greater willingness to question whether the goal of “ever-closer union” in Europe should be reassessed.

My first question has to do with are to . Does it mean are going to or something else? is it a grammatical matter?

I think go - ahead is a noun and ever - closer is an adjective but I have no idea what they really mean.

Mr. Schäuble stressed that he was not pushing the Greeks to take any particular course and that in any case he was only talking about a temporary exit from the euro. But coming a day before German lawmakers are to give the go-ahead to negotiate the details of the bailout package for Athens, his remarks were evidence of a continuing deep ambivalence among conservatives in Germany about the costs of keeping Greece in the currency zone and a greater willingness to question whether the goal of “ever-closer union” in Europe should be reassessed.

My first question has to do with are to. Does it mean are going to or something else? Is it a grammatical matter?

I think go-ahead is a noun and ever-closer is an adjective but I have no idea what they really mean.