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The Greek negotiating group is to return to Athens from Brussels today. At the first meeting with the representatives of the institutions, as the Greek government has recently started to call the lenders, it became clear that it will not be possible to continue the negotiations if Greece does not provide specific economic data.

According to Greek media correspondents in Brussels, the talks will continue next week, again in the Belgian capital. Meanwhile, the technical teams of "the Brussels group", as the Troika is renamed, which are to arrive in Athens today will have gathered more information on the fiscal situation of Greece. It is expected that they will meet with heads, directors and executives of the Court of Auditors, as well as with representatives of ministries.

The talks between Greece and the institutions started with a two week delay. The aim is to conclude an agreement on the technical level by Easter, i.e. to draw up a bill that includes the major reforms. If it is passed by the Greek parliament, Athens can expect the Eurogroup to allow the payment of part of the last tranche of the bailout.

Sources in Brussels say that the Greek side had insisted on negotiating on the basis of the proposal for 7 reforms that Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis had sent to Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem last Thursday. Representatives of the institutions, however, explained that the talks should cover all the issues described in the bailout programme, not just Varoufakis’ proposals.

The first meeting took place yesterday at 2:00 pm (local time) in the Charlemagne building which houses the economic services of the European Commission and the office of Head of the Brussels group Declan Costello (representative of the European Commission in the team). It is believed that he renamed the Troika as early as last May, as reported by Greek correspondents in Brussels. The talks also involved representative of the European Central Bank Klaus Masuch and representative of the International Monetary Fund Rishi Goyal. It involved for the first time a representative of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF/ESM), namely N. Gamarioli, who is in charge for Greece.

On the Greek side, the meeting involved Chief Secretary of Fiscal Policy at the Ministry of Finance Nikos Teocharakis and staff members to Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis, economist and former PASOK MP Elena Panariti from the team of Yanis Varoufakis and associates to Deputy Minister Efklidis Tsakalotos.

According to sources from the technical teams of the Brussels group, the talks in Athens will be divided into three categories and they will take place within three weeks. The technical team that will deal with the fiscal policy will start working today to determine whether the primary surplus that was attained last year is available, how huge the hole in the budget is and whether additional measures will be required.

The second team will arrive in Athens next week and it will deal with the course of the structural reforms as well as with labour legislation and privatization. The last team will hold talks on the banking sector and non-performing loans.