Greece, creditors to begin bailout talks next week: govt source

Greece and its international creditors will begin talks on a new international bailout worth up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion) for the crisis-hit country next week, a Greek government source said July 25.

Technical teams from the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund would begin arriving over the weekend, but talks to finalise the bailout deal would only begin on July 28, the source said.
 
The heads of missions would arrive a day or two later in Athens, the source said, adding that they should be on site by July 30.
 
A European Commission spokesperson, however, could not confirm the plans, saying only that the representatives would fly out to Athens "in the coming days".
 
The two sides are under enormous pressure to hammer out the rescue deal before August 20, when Athens is scheduled to make a loan repayment of 3.2 billion euros to the ECB that it cannot currently afford.
 
The European Commission's Declan Costello, Rasmus Ruffer of the ECB, Delia Velculescu of the IMF and Nicola Giammarioli from the European Stability Mechanism will attend as mission chiefs for the organisations, according to the source.
 
A few hours earlier, the source had said the heads of missions would be in Athens this weekend.
 
"The delay... is due to technical reasons and not due to political or diplomatic reasons," added the source.
 
Other negotiators were due to arrive "by the end of Sunday night", the source said, adding that an official from the ESM, the eurozone's bailout fund, would also be heading to Athens.
 
Greece's radical-left government struck a deal on July 13 with the creditors to introduce tough economic reforms in exchange for the bailout,...