Negotiations with creditors will continue until Thursday evening, a government source told «N» on Monday, hours after yet another Eurogroup meeting – one linked with the latest “unofficial deadline” for the Greek program – ended hours earlier.
Two major obstacles require progress in negotiations in the meantime: labor market reforms and pension cuts.
Greek ministers that remained in Brussels are Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, Alternate FinMin Giorgos Houliarakis and Labor Minister Efi Achtsioglou.
The same source maintained that the decision to shift negotiations to Brussels was Athens’ idea.
The new “unofficial deadline” for finally concluding the second review is now the April 7, which coincides with another Eurogroup meeting, with the Greek side still aiming for a staff level agreement.
In a later press conference, mostly to Greek reporters, Tsakalotos echoed other European officials’ mostly positive “spin” on the still unresolved issues blocking the second review.
He repeated that “progress was recorded in negotiations”, and that all sides agree that more progress can be achieved in the next few days – given the decision to keep the Greek ministers in Brussels.
