Talks with creditors on next set of prior actions for further aid to Athens resumes

Auditors of Greece's international creditors returned to Athens on Tuesday for talks with government officials on the next set of prior actions required for the release of further bailout aid to the country.

Under the current timetable the two sides should finalize by the weekend the 13 preconditions to unlock the final one billion euro loan installment for this year, so that the Greek parliament can vote on the measures in mid- December before the Christmas holidays.

The Left-led government and foreign lenders need to resolve at least four thorny issues over the next few days so that the vote and release of the aid will not be dragged on to January, according to local media.

A major hurdle that needs to be overcome, NEA (News) daily noted, was the management of non-performing loans. Lenders press for the sale of such loans to foreign distress funds, but the Greek side tries to block the sale of mortgages to avert foreclosures of homes.

In an interview with Greek national broadcaster ERT on Monday Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that the government would protect Greek citizens from the "vultures of catastrophe."

The two sides also still have diverging views regarding the privatization of the power transmission operator and whether the state or the private sector should hold the controlling stake.

The third outstanding issue concerned the establishment of a new privatization fund under the summer's third bailout deal. The government insists that the fund should be under Greek administration, while lenders were pushing for a foreign management.

Finally, the two sides must agree on the introduction of a single payroll system in the public sector. The change was expected to bring significant reductions on wages of public servants who have so far escaped cutbacks and could spark more strikes and protests.

The government has faced two general strikes over the past month and under increasing pressure from voters who object to the new rounds of austerity and reform policies two MPs that belonged to the two-partite ruling coalition voted against party line in late November.

Ever since, the government holds a slim majority of 153 seats in the 300-member strong assembly.

If everything runs smoothly in coming weeks, Athens hopes that talks on debt relief will start in early 2016 to ease the pressure on Greek society.

During Monday's interview Tsipras called the IMF to hold a more "constructive" stance in the talks and "decide whether it will compromise and stay in the Greek bailout program."

Athens argues that in comparison to the European side, IMF makes more tough "unrealistic" demands concerning the austerity and reform measures and the debt relief. Endit