Representatives of Greece’s creditors met with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister George Stathakis as part of continued negotiations on  the country’s third bailout program. The meeting ran from 10 a.m. until early in the afternoon with just a five-minute break after Troika’s three representatives woke up energetic and rearing to go…

IMF Representative Delia Velculescu was the first to arrive for breakfast at the Athens Hilton at around 8 a.m. on Friday, followed shortly after by Declan Costello from the European Commission (EC), Rasmus Rueffer from the European Central Bank (ECB) and Nicola Giammarioli from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

After morning cereal, the creditors turned their attention to the Greek serial of economic negotiations, with the two ministers who arrived shortly after IMF Resident Representative Wes McGrew strolled in to the talks.

The creditors are asking the government to change its stand on a number of tax measures. However the three creditors don’t share  the same view on all matters:

– European creditors want more reductions to wages and pensions rather than new taxes.

– The IMF wants reforms to be effective immediately but also wants EU creditors to agree to a debt haircut to lighten the load.

The first taste of what creditors want was given to the Greek technical teams on Thursday. Friday’s talks are set to be dominated by:

– The state of the real economy, the recession and new goals for the primary surplus

– Measures from today until the end of December for the agreement to be clinch the agreement

Specifically, creditors want

– Abolition of the 8% contribution for the wealthy who earn more than 500,000 euros per annum because they believe that “money needs to be chased but a great deal of money knows where to hide”. They want a mixed 6% contribution for income over 50,000 euros per annum.

– Abolition of tax exemptions and cuts to beneficial terms for farm fuel

– An increase to the tax downpayment for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the self-employed and freelancers with tax receipts from 55% to 75%.

– Opening of closed professions and lifting limitations for business licenses

– Abolition of third-person taxes

It is hoped  that the agreement can be reached in time for a 3.2-bn-euro payment due to the European Central Bank on August 20.