Ahead of a Eurogroup meeting Monday afternoon (9.11) to assess Greece's progress in meeting the terms of the 86 billion euros loan agreement, the government aims to close all pending issues so as to receive the green light for the disbursement of 2 billion euros, i.e. the first installment of the initial 26 billion tranche. Disagreement remains mainly over primary residence foreclosures for non-performing loans at Greek banks, so as to avoid putting thousands at risk of losing their homes.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discussed the issue on Sunday (8.11) on the phone with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, arguing that the Greek position on foreclosure auctions was compatible with the agreement, as well as with the need to protect social cohesion. If differences are not bridged at this stage the disbursement of 2 billion euro tranche will probably be further postponed to the next Eurogroup meeting.

Meanwhile, in an interview for the Sunday Edition of Greek newspaper ‘RealNews’, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici called Greece to move quickly and reach firm and specific agreements in the next days on all the major outstanding issues under discussion. He further noted that momentum between Greek authorities and the institutions remained positive, with trust and a mutual desire to work together having replaced earlier suspicion and lack of understanding.