Brussels--Greece and its European creditors are finally making progress only days after combative Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was effectively sidelined from talks on its enormous debt, EU sources told AFP Sunday.
Negotiators said there were "encouraging" signs from meetings over the weekend in Brussels on reforms which Athens must push through in exchange for 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) in desperately-needed bailout funds.
The talks, which began Thursday, were the first led by economist and junior foreign minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who last week replaced the controversial Varoufakis as head of Greece's team of negotiators.
After months of acrimonious deadlock, "the revamped (Greek) Brussels group have clearly improved the process, with a clear schedule for the discussions... and with more experts present with more details," one source said.
"Talks are constructive," the source added. "I would even dare to say encouraging." They will continue on Monday and could last until at least Wednesday, "which is a good sign", the source said.
Varoufakis had a notoriously difficult relationship with his country's lenders, and was reportedly "isolated" by his fellow European finance ministers after a stormy meeting in Riga two weeks ago.
A second EU source confirmed there had been "convergence on some issues" during talks over the weekend, though "more work was needed on others" when the teams sit down again on Monday.
AFP
