Political repression in the Soviet Union

Greece will not be able to complete some 600 pending actions in time for the troika review in September and will sit down with its lenders to discuss shortening this list when the two sides meet in Paris a few days before inspectors arrive in Athens, a government official told Sunday’s Kathimerini.

Talks between the coalition leaders last week led to them finalizing the requests that Athens will make regarding the easing of adjustment measures when the troika returns to Greece but European officials have warned that if the government does not stick to its pledges it will be forced to agree to a third bailout.

Greece’s public water companies, which had been slated to be privatized, will remain under state control, in line with a recent decision by the Council of State, it was decided on Monday during talks between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, his coalition partner Evangelos Venizelos and two key ministers.

Troika officials are due to meet Greece’s Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis on Monday to discuss the liberalization of the energy market.

The talks come in the wake of Greece passing a law last week allowing the sale of almost a third of its state energy monopoly, the Public Power Corporation.

A meeting is expected to take place between representative of the government, armed forces and emergency services at the State General Accounting Office on Tuesday to decide on how soldiers’ and policemen’s wages will be restored.

Education Minster Constantinos Arvanitopoulos said on Friday that the government would do everything to ensure there are no layoffs of teachers at state schools, adding however that his hands were largely tied due to «commitments made in the past to the troika."

A teacher raises a fist during a protest rally in central Athens on Monday. Teachers’ union OLME is protesting the induction of hundreds of educators into the government’s public sector mobility scheme and their possible dismissal. Several sectors of the civil service are up in arms this week as the current round of transfers into the scheme is nearing an end.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras has refused to commit on the question of whether Greece and the troika will conclude their talks on Monday after lengthy discussions over the weekend.

“I don’t know [if talks will conclude today],” said Stournaras after he left talks with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras at lunchtime on Monday.

Greek government officials are to continue talks with troika representatives on Monday after failing to reach an agreement on a range of issues over the weekend.

The troika faced an “immense challenge” in dealing with the euro crisis but the adjustment programs it helped implement in Greece and other countries lacked transparency and were not fully adapted to those states, according to a European Parliament committee, which recommended on Tuesday the International Monetary Fund’s involvement in future bailouts be “optional.”