A meeting of Greek authorities and representatives of the three institutions of the Brussels Group (EC, ECB and IMF) are continuing at a frantic pace following a meeting between technical teams on a wide range of issues on Saturday. Talks focused on the operation of Greece’s justice system, markets and other issues. Another meeting of the Greek negotiating team meeting ran for more than eight hours on Saturday, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the helm.

The meeting took place following Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’ announcement that Elena Panaritis would be Greece’s representative to the IMF that is a controversial choice for the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA).

Sources state that the next steps in Greece’s agonizing negotiations were discussed with the focus being on a draft agreement. A new teleconference meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Tsipras was discussed, as well as a similar meeting with French President Francois Hollande on Sunday afternoon.

Despite the fact that “thorny issues” remain on a number of matters, the Greek government was optimistic for a positive statement to be made soon, possibly on Sunday.