The Greek government is aiming for a political solution to the second evaluation. For this reason they want a road map in order for the technical negotiations to begin. Athens is using all the time at hand, stretching the timetable to its limits, and with no signs of compromise as yet, until they manage to achieve an overall solution on all open issues, such as the debt relief, the QE ans the primary surplus. This is why Athens is not willing to start the negotiations until the road map is agreed upon as a counterbalance for the new measures that are inevitable.

The lenders, from their side, want to start the negotiations as soon as possible so that there will be a final agreement on the February 20th Eurogroup. One of the reasons they are now the ones rushing is the fact that they do not want this issue open during the upcoming elections in many EU countries. The main reason though, is that, with the exception of Germany, they don’t think that a Grexit would benefit the course of the common currency and the EU in general, especially now that the US intentions towards the EU have become so obvious.