Bid to restart bailout talks as QE, IMF fate unclear

With a meeting of eurozone Finance Ministry officials scheduled for Thursday, Greek and European officials aim to unfreeze stalled bailout negotiations even though key decisions vis-a-vis Greece's inclusion in the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program and the International Monetary Fund's participation in Greece's third bailout appear far from imminent.

The goal of Thursday's Euro Working Group is to assess the progress achieved by Greek authorities in implementing economic reforms and to determine when representatives of the country's creditors can return to Athens to resume talks. Some officials in Brussels, however, reckon that not enough progress will have been achieved by the end of this month to warrant the return to Athens of foreign auditors.

Apart from Greece's slow progress in implementing agreed-to reforms, another key problem is a rift...