The technical group of “institutions” will not stay in Greece for much longer as government officials are perturbed by their behavior and demands. The cherry on the cake came when the technocrats urged the government to withdraw the legislations for the humanitarian crisis and the plan for debt settlement in 100 installments. The Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government categorically refused to acquiesce to these requests, creating friction between the two sides. Apparently, most of the daily problems in negotiations are the result of vagueness concerning the role of the technical groups following the new political agreement that Athens reached with Brussels on February 20.

Government officials point out that the technical groups are made of low-raanking officials of the “institutions”, however they are behaving like the old “Troika” as though there had been no new agreement concerning their role. The new technical group, that is made up of the same players as the old Troika, act as though nothing but their title has changed. “They are taking the old memorandum and are supervising Greek government representatives based on the targets of the old (scrapped) plan,” say government officials, complaining that the technocrats are working according to a checklist for a program that no longer exists. Another problem is the attitude of the technocrats who have the inclination to criticize and control, oftentimes being pushy and insolent.

The Greek government is losing its patience. The government feels that the low-level technocrats should only offer technical data and provide estimations that could be of service to the state rather than have a judicial or governing role. In other words, the government feels that the low-level officials representing the “institutions” should not have the authority to set policies and govern.

Ministers and government officials point to the group’s condescending “colonial attitude” and treatment of Greece as a banana republic. Following the technical team’s unsuccessful block of two legislations, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ associates say, “Passing bills to soothe the wounds of the destructive policies of recent years can only be considered ‘unilateral action’ expose the fact that the technical groups are unable to guarantee the implementation of the February 20 agreement.”