By N. Bellos
Top IMF official Poul Thomsen and ECB executive board member Benoit Coeuré have reportedly joined ongoing negotiations in Brussels between creditors' representatives and handful of top Greek ministers, contacts aimed at finally concluding the second review of the Greek bailout program.
At last word, negotiations will continue until Thursday evening, although both sides have diligently avoided any press leaks of late.
According to a Community source in the Belgian capital, the addition of Thomsen - the Fund's European director - and Coeuré, is considered a positive development, regardless of the final result of current negotiations.
The same source underlined that a very positive outcome in current negotiations would be an announcement stipulating when top negotiators will return to Athens to conclude the review -- which is now delayed by more than a year.
Nevertheless, such a prospect must be accompanied by "significant progress" on a series of differences between the leftist Greek government and its institutional creditors. As previously and repeatedly cited, fiscal measures after 2019, Athens' demand for countervailing measures and creditors' pressing demands for labor market reforms and liberalization in Greece are still the major "obstacles" preventing a conclusion of the bailout review.
