Bailout mission chiefs to return to Athens as Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem says it time to talk about Greek debt relief
Mission chiefs from Greece's creditors will return to Athens as soon as tomorrow to race to complete the current stage of the country's €86bn (£67bn) bailout programme.
After crunch talks in Brussels, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the group of Eurozone finance ministers, said:
The mission chiefs will return to Athens. There is enough common ground for their mission to continue.
But he warned:
If we want to comply with what was agreed this summer then more work needs to be done, more effort needs to be put in.
There are still fiscal gaps to be filled and some of the reforms will need to be deepened.
European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici outlined five key areas of disagreement between Greece and the four institutions – the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the European Stability Mechanism. These were: "Establishing a privatisation and investment fund, reforming income tax, reform of pensions – which is decisive, creating independent revenue agencies and coping with non-performing loans."
Dijsselbloem also said the Eurogroup wanted to begin talks on relieving Greece from some its debt burden.