Despite the fact that EU said that recent negotiations between Greek government and representatives of the Institutions “went well”, a senior eurozone official said some differences still exist on the insurance, the 2016 fiscal figures and the years after, the reform of the public administration and the privatisation fund.

He described the issues of the first review ‘complex’ not only on technical terms, but mostly on political terms, adding that everyone “hopes that the review will be completed relatively soon.”

Nevertheless, he underlined that the “quality of the agreement is far more important than the time it will be completed.”

Regarding the social security reform, he said that although there has been progress, there are still many gaps, while adding that the measures agreed for 2016 have not been taken yet.

The top official said that the privatization fund should effectively run before completing the program review referring also to the delays in reforms of the public administration and revocable employees.

He also expressed his disappointment saying that he is not happy with the recent incidents involving members of Greek government assigning their friends and families to public service jobs.

Concluding, he said that a date for the institutions’ return to Athens has not yet been set and confirmed that discussions over the main issues of the technical consultations have been concluded.