Greek developments: Athens exchange still closed; Negotiations continue while IMF arrival delayed

The Athens exchange won’t open today, because the government hasn’t issued a ministerial decree to allow trading to resume. It could open on Thursday, more than a month after capital controls were introduced.

The negotiations on the third bailout began on Tuesday in Athens. However, as media sources report, the arrival of officials from the Troika (and even 'quadriga' of institutions which now include the European Stability Mechanism) is again delayed.

The European Central Bank’s mission chief Rasmus Rüffer and his European Commission counterpart, Declan Costello, both arrived in Athens on Monday. The group formerly known as the “troika” (the EC, ECB and IMF) has now been joined by mission chief Nicola Giammarioli from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the eurozone’s bailout fund which will fund the third rescue package — earning the creditors a nickname “quadriga”.

Meanwhile, a finance ministry official has confirmed that the Rumanian economist Delia Velculescu, the head of the IMF team to Greece, will not be flying in until Thursday.

The official rejected suggestions that the delay was connected to difficulties with the IMF, which of all the creditor bodies has taken the toughest position in respect to the cash-strapped country.

Velculescu comes with a reputation, says Helena Smith, The Guardian's reporter. The Rumanian economist who will be reporting to former mission chief Poul Thomsen (now head of the IMF’s European department) was previously appointed mission chief for Cyprus where her demanding stance earned her the nickname Dracula.

US-trained, she is expected to be tough with Athens applying prior actions in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday the Greek government and its European creditors opened talks on the new bailout agreement, with technical staff tackling topics like pension and labor-market reforms ahead of high-level talks in Athens later this week.

Earlier, European commissioner Pierre Moscovici told French radio listeners that negotiations over the third Greek bailout are going well.

Moscovici said talks were taking place in “good conditions”, declaring that: “Grexit is behind us.”

The current priority is to create closer integration in the eurozone and drive through economic reforms to lower unemployment, he said.

There have been rumors that creditors will demand further prior actions not least pension cuts and tax hikes on profits made by farmers – neuralgic issues bound to trigger further anger in Syriza.

However, the Greek finance minister in a statement rejected any suggestion that the government might be forced to impose further prior actions.

The Greek government has an additional deadline on Aug. 20 when it must repay €3.2 billion to the ECB, though if the full bailout package is not ready by then, the EU could further bridge financing.

Greece’s third rescue package is expected to comprise €85 billion over three years.