A delegation of Greece's international creditors are holding a second day of preparatory talks with Greek officials, ahead of higher-level negotiations later this week on the country's new multi-billion euro lifeline.
Representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the eurozone's bailout fund, and the International Monetary Fund—was initially supposed to arrive in Athens last week. But its arrival was delayed by differences between Greece and its creditors on logistics and procedural issues, costing several days.
After assuming office, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared that the unpopular "troika" was finished, and refused to let representatives from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund negotiators into Greek ministry buildings, insisting instead on discreet meetings in Athens hotels, and talks in Brussels.
Tsipras's radical left government had to accept the inspectors' return to Athens after the Greek parliament voted for a two sets of tough new conditions set by the EU lenders for talks on the bailout.
While the Greek government and its creditors have agreed to let inspectors enter ministry buildings and institutions such as the Bank of Greece and the General Accounting Office, it remains unclear how much access they will have to several key ministers, Greek and European officials said.
At 10 am on Tuesday morning around 12 officials arrived at the General Accounting Office - the government agency that oversees financial management of the Greek state – to collect data.
Draconian measures were taken by the police to protect the foreign officials. Police trailed international auditors on the streets while a helicopter monitored their every move overhead. Some 250 police are believed to have been seconded to guard the Athens Hilton where the teams are now staying.
The draconian measures will be stepped up when mission heads join the technical teams later this week.