Greece enters bailout talks

BRUSSELS: Emergency talks on extending Greece´s huge bailout were due to begin Wednesday, as the Greek government scrambled to put together enough cash to get through the rest of the month.
A Greek government source told AFP that “high-level” technical talks between Greece and its troika of creditors would begin in the afternoon in Brussels, and last about two days.
“The goal is to find a framework on how to proceed and a detailed timeline that includes specific data,” a source close to the negotiations said.
“The ´institutions´ want detailed data, and they will get that,” the source said, using the Greek government´s chosen term for the troika group of creditors — the European commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“The discussions could also determine whether experts from the institutions go to Athens,” the source added.
Such a visit by creditor officials would be a humiliating turn of events for Greece´s new leftist government that has until now fiercely excluded any such visit.
After five years of painful austerity, the radical Syriza party swept to power in January on a clear pledge to refuse all dealings with the hated troika that saw through the tough reforms during two bailouts since 2010.
Greece´s Eurozone partners agreed last month to extend Greece´s current bailout until June, having won a commitment from Athens that the Greek government would adopt reforms acceptable to its austerity-pushing creditors.
But Athens has since faced criticism for failing to provide detailed enough reforms plans, which the Eurozone says are an absolute minimum for Greece to receive critically needed rescue funding.
This month alone, Greece must find eight billion euros to meet its debts — including 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) to the IMF.
Reports Wednesday said the leftist government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was turning to its pension funds for emergency cash to pay government salaries during the negotiations with the troika.
Greece will also tap into its bank rescue fund for a half a billion euros to survive the cash crunch.
On Monday, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem blamed Greece for wasting precious time as the money ran out.
“We have spent two weeks discussing who meets who where and in what format, and it´s a complete waste of time,” said Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch finance minister.
If Athens satisfies its creditors, it stands to receive about seven billion euros in rescue financing still remaining in its bailout. Talks would then likely start on securing a third bailout programme.