Greece to urgently begin technical talks

Greece has agreed to urgently begin technical talks on the extension of its bailout program after its international creditors accused the debt-stricken country of wasting crucial time in previous negotiations.

“We agreed today that there is no further time to lose. Discussions between the Greek government and the institutions will start on Wednesday in Brussels… in parallel; technical teams from the institutions will be welcomed in Athens,” Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said at a press conference following a meeting of the group in Brussels on Monday.

He was referring to the technical teams from Greece’s troika of international creditors, namely the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The announcement came after the fourth ministerial meeting on Greece in a month, during which Athens sketched out the reforms demanded by the lenders in exchange for further cash.

Dijsselbloem also lamented the pace of the progress, adding, “We have spent now two weeks apparently discussing who meets whom where, in what configuration, and on what agenda and it is a complete waste of time.”

The eurozone agreed last month to extend Greece’s bailout until June. It must endorse a comprehensive list of reforms by April before they release any further loans to Greece. However, Greece has so far managed to only outline some of its proposals in broad terms.

Meanwhile, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (pictured below) rejected the accusation, saying, “We were very speedy.”

The government of Alexis Tsipras, whose leftist Syriza Party stormed to victory in January 25 elections, has tried to renegotiate the terms of the country’s 240-billion-euro (270-billion-dollar) bailout it received in 2010 in return for imposing harsh austerity measures.

The final 7.5 billion euro installment of Greece’s 240-billion-euro international bailout is still pending, and without it, the country may run short of cash.

Last month, a tentative agreement was reached to extend Greece’s bailout program by four months during preparatory talks between Varoufakis, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Dijsselbloem.