The technical groups of the Troika of Greece’s international creditors from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) – along with representatives from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) from which Greece hopes to syphoon funds – are in Athens. They arrived in two vans, each carrying six people being carefully guarded from the Hilton Hotel to the Panepistimiou Street building that houses the General Accounts Office of Greece. They stepped into the building shortly after 10 a.m. carrying files that they used to hide their faces.
Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is set to meet with the very representatives that the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) pledged would be ousted. First contact would just be a brief introductory meeting. “We will respect both the agreement of the Eurogroup and the agreement of the summit. We will proceed with a plan and hope for a positive outcome,” he said.
On his part, Tsakalotos says that some EU partners insist the third bailout measures need to be implemented before the cannister is opened and are calling for further prior actions, but the Greek government will enforce the Eurogroup and summit agreements where a third package is not provided.
European Commission Spokeswoman Mina Andreeva told a news briefing that “more reforms are expected on the part of the Greek authorities to allow for a swift disbursement under the ESM and this is what is being discussed right now.”
Both Athens and Brussels hope that the new bailout can be finalized by mid-August when Greece faces a 3.2-bln-euro repayment to the ECB on August 20 and a 1.5-bln euro reimbursement to the IMF in the following month.