Talks between Greece and the Troika (inspectors from the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank) have a "long way to go," a Greek Finance Ministry source told Kathimerini, adding that the international creditors have issues with some of Athens' proposals to cut 11.5 billion euros from the deficit over the next two years.

"They have objections to some of the measures. They want more details to understand some of the measures better," the source told the Hellenic paper and asserted that "this is just the start. There is a long way to go."

The Troika's approval is necessary for Greece to receive the next €31.5bn tranche of the bailout and is now expected to be presented to European officials in October.

In any case, the coalition government still appears unable to come to a final agreement, although Pasok party leader Evangelos Venizelos says that negotiations are reaching the final stage. "The talks haven't closed because the troika hasn't accepted the total package of proposed measures. So now we need to make counterproposals," he said.

Coalition members Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis agreed to meet on September 12th, two days prior to talks between Eurozone finance ministers.

JM

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