Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis and a Greek delegation are in Paris on Tuesday for talks with the troika comprised of members of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. The Greek delegation were hammering out the final details of the negotiating strategy until late Monday night. Hardouvelis told the press that expectations had risen too high and that Greece would not be setting down any non-negotiable terms in the talks in Paris that would focus on “technical” matters.

Hardouvelis denied reports that the Greek delegation would ask its international creditors to lower certain taxes, such as the consumption tax on heating fuel. He said that this issue isn’t on the agenda and that the government will not raise the issue of reducing taxes unless it is raised by the troika. Amongst issues to be discussed in Paris are the ENFIA tax, Greece’s proposals for non-performing loans, the budget and progress on reforms. Greek is likely to come under scrutiny for failing to speed up state privatizations and its delays in a retrenchment plan affecting 6,500 state workers by the end of the year.

The programme: Tuesday’s meetings will focus on matters concerning the Finance Ministry, Wednesday’s talks have to do with internal reform, employment and development, whereas Thursday will be a review preparing for the rull routine audit to take place in Athens at the end of September.

The Greek delegation to Paris is comprised of 20 members. The meeting is the first with the troika being held outside Athens on “neutral territory” after Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had requested to hold the talks in Paris following protests at home.

The talks run until Thursday and Greek officials hope that they will result in the release of the next 3.5-billion-euro tranche of aid prior to the outcome of the ECB stress tests on banks in the Fall.