Representatives of the troika of Greece’s international creditors from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have not confirmed that they will return to Athens at the end of the week as Finance Ministry sources had indicated. European officials state that there need to be more clarifications and a further exchange of information between two sides before inspectors return to Athens.

A troika official dashed hopes that the group would return to Athens by this weekend. Instead, the Troika have sent Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis a range of reforms it wants Athens to implement before its next evaluation. These need to be completed before the Eurogroup summit on December 8, allowing the euro area to provide Greece with a precautionary credit line so that it can exit its bailout.

One of the stumbling blocks is a settlement for 100 installments for overdue debts to the state that reportedly creates a 1-million-euro financial gap in the state budget.

On Tuesday, conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with socialist Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos with the goal of bridging the 2014 fiscal gap, relaxing restrictions on mass dismissals on the private sector, changing the criteria for retirement, increasig VAT, lifting restrictions and other sensitive areas.

“We continued the discussion ahead of the negotiations with our partners because, as you know, we’re expecting the return of the troika, the conclusion of this discussion and the opening of a new page,” Mr. Venizelos told reporters following the meeting. He added that Troika would return “as soon as possible so that the deadline can be met.” He also pointed to the December 8 target deadline.