Greece: negotiations on a new bailout – Challenges.fr

Representatives of the creditors of the Greece , EU and IMF will begin Monday, July 27 in Athens discussions with the Greek authorities on a new loan to the country, said Sunday European Commission and International Monetary Fund. “The teams arrive in Athens tomorrow, and the meetings will begin immediately,” told AFP a Commission spokesman. However, he did not say whether those teams would initially composed only of experts, or would also include the heads of delegations of the four relevant institutions, Commission, European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the International Monetary Fund.

Only a technical team to the IMF

An IMF spokesman told AFP however that the institution would send Monday that a “technical team”, a term suggesting that its Chief in Mission Greece would not be immediately associated with these discussions. “A technical team will start working on Monday in Athens to take stock of recent developments in the situation,” said in an email that spokesman, without giving more details.

A ministry source Greek Finance had said on Saturday that the heads of mission would arrive only by Thursday, also binding to the beginning of discussions Tuesday.

The blur has continued to soar in recent days on the date Check this mission, amid strong resistance from the Greek radical left government to accept a reversal of the same model of visits before he took office in January by the representatives of the creditors, then collectively as the troika .

“The delay of heads of mission is due to technical reasons, not for political or diplomatic reasons,” the source said Saturday the Greek Ministry.

A loan 82 billion

The aim of the discussions is to be finalized by August 20 to a third loan to the Greece , running over three years to more 82 billion euros. The principle was agreed on July 13 between the leaders of countries in the euro zone after marathon negotiations to prevent the Greece to be pushed out of the eurozone.

Athens and Brussels want this negotiation to succeed by “the second half of August.” Greece , whose coffers are empty, must pay 3.19 billion euros to the ECB on August 20, then 1.5 billion to the IMF in September.

The return to Athens representatives of creditor institutions, who lent the country some 240 billion since 2010, was imposed on the Greece within the agreement of 13 July.

The government of Alexis Tsipras also had to commit to a series of budget cuts and reforms extending austerity with which he had promised to end, and the details and timing of which must bear the negotiations.

(With AFP)