>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.