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From today, the government is well advised to start working at full pace, because the deadlines are pressing it hard, and creditors’ patience is running out.

After a short break for the Orthodox Easter, the Greek side is in for yet another uphill marathon to reach an agreement by the crucial Eurogroup meeting on 24 April.

The aim is to cobble together an initial agreement on a technical level by 20 April, so that it could be examined by the institutions and the EuroWorking Group and eventually get the political green light at the 24 April meeting.

Bad climes for Athens

Noises from the last few days have not been auspicious for Athens. After Christine Lagarde’s ‘bomb’ from the other side of the Atlantic, two recent publications, expressing EU sentiment, have been rather ill-tempered.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quotes a senior European official who sounded his disappointment with the EuroWorking Group negotiations. He qualified the Greek representative’s behaviour as reminiscent of a ‘taxi driver’ as the latter kept asking where the money was. The official also referred to the discussions with the Greek delegation as ‘shocking’.

The Greek Ministry of Finance, in turn, argued that the claims in the publication did not correspond to reality.

Meanwhile, international media have warned that Greece’s hopes for a dignified solution to its problems are waning, as Europeans are annoyed with the Greek government.

A Reuters publication argues that even if it survives the next three months on the verge of bankruptcy, Greece will squander a good opportunity for a long-term accord on its debt because of its isolation from creditors at a time when it needs their helping hand so badly.

An agreement is still possible, but the stumbling blocks are plentiful

The Europeans believe that there may be an agreement by the end of April (not necessarily by the 24th). But, in the coming days, the tension will flare up as negotiations hit the stickiest issues for the government.

The key among them is the pensions. Lenders insist on further cuts, but the Greeks remain adamantly against.

This is a short list of the other problems:

• the budget deficit size
• creditors’ demand to increase VAT
• creditors’ demand to further reduce civil servants’ pensions
• group redundancies
• privatisation

Critical dates

Against this background, two crucial dates are looming on this week's horizon.

The first one is 16 April, when Yannis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Schaeuble will meet up at the Conference of the Brookings Institution. The two ministers will be speakers, but they are also expected to put their heads together in view of alleviating the crisis.

The IMF’s Executive board is slated to meet two days later, on 18 April. The Board will present its report on the countries’ economic performance, including Greece’s.

IMF’s opinion is considered crucial for the future of the negotiations, especially after Lagarde’s ‘bomb’ over her insistence for changes in Greece’s pension system, as well as her concern about whether Greece will stick to its commitments.