Creditors heading to Greece amid bailout 'progress'

(BRUSSELS) - The EU's Economics Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici on Thursday hailed 'progress' in tense talks with Greek authorities over the country's bailout programme, with key officials heading to Athens to finalise negotiations.

The leftist Greek government is looking to end the first review of its 84 billion euro ($91.6 billion) bailout agreed in July after six months of bitter talks that nearly saw Greece leave the euro.

Approval by Greece's eurozone partners would open the way for talks on reducing huge debt load, a key demand by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, but a hard sell to bailout-weary creditors, especially Germany.

"All technical teams including those dealing with difficult issues dealing with fiscal targets and pensions are already on the ground in Athens and progress is being made," Moscovici said at a news briefing in Brussels.

"I am confident that mission chiefs can be in Athens in the coming days to start talks next week, so this means by the weekend."

The three-year bailout is administered by a quartet of institutions -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the EU's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

It will be up to the mission chiefs from the institutions to recommend to Eurozone finance ministers on whether Greece has satisfied the strict conditions of the bailout.

Reducing Greek spending on pensions is the most sensitive demand in the bailout.

Tsipras, at a rally Sunday to mark a year in power, stood by his vow to overhaul the Greece's pension system despite fierce opposition and only a razor-thin majority in national parliament supporting him.

The first evaluation of the aid programme was supposed to conclude in February, but ESM chief Klaus Regling said this week he thought the assessment could only be "concluded before Easter" at the end of March.