(MENAFN- AFP) Cash-strapped Greece wrangled Monday with its creditors over a new package of reforms needed to unlock vital bailout funds as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras prepared to face grilling in parliament on the negotiations.
Experts from the IMF and the EU are scrutinising a list of reforms that Athens has proposed in its bid to get the creditors to release 7.2-billion euros ($7.81-billion) in loans.
Greece's government says the reforms would help raise an extra three billion euros for its coffers without resorting to wage and pension cuts.
But the European Union warned Monday that there was still no deal.
"We're not there yet," European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters when asked about the progress of the talks. "This is why the talks should benefit from further fact-finding in Athens that should continue."
Eurozone officials would likely hold a conference call this week, and then decide whether to call a full meeting of finance ministers after Easter.
More privately, European sources have accused Athens of hindering progress in the talks.
Opposition MPs are also expected to take Tsipras to task when parliament sits on Monday evening.
Rival parties have accused the prime minister of reneging on his election promises, claiming that he has secretly conceded austerity reforms in order to unlock the last tranche of aid funds by the end-April deadline.
In April, Athens needs to roll over 2.4 billion euros in short-term debt and repay another 820 million euros, including 460 million euros to the International Monetary Fund.
Among reforms proposed by Tsipras's government are proposals to levy higher taxes on the rich, as well as measures to tackle tax evasion and illegal fuel and cigarette smuggling.
But a European source told news portal in.gr that Greece's proposals still had to be fleshed out, and that "amateurism" by Greek officials was hindering progress.
Junior finance minister Dimitris Mardas on Monday said that the creditors were pushing for lower pensions and more mass layoffs -- measures which the radical government has pledged to resist.
"The issue of mass layoffs is under debate...this is a red line and we cannot cross it...as are pensions," he told To Vima radio.
However, Mardas said an agreement could still be reached.
"Based on the facts, even with the red lines, there is no reason for failure (in the talks)," Mardas said.
"The (creditors) have backed down on a number of issues, so I don't see something insurmountable," he said.
The creditors are also pushing the radical government elected in January to abandon its plans to block a number of key privatisations.
But Mardas insisted that Athens would now no longer "sell its assets at humiliating prices."
- Privatisation U-turn -
The government's stance on privatisations has caused confusion, with some ministers favouring asset sales and others dead set against it.
Over the weekend, there was an apparent split in the cabinet after the deputy prime minister suggested that Greece would go ahead with plans to privatise a key port despite earlier pledges by the new government to scrap the sale.
During a visit to China last week, deputy prime minister Ioannis Dragasakis said a controversial privatisation of the Piraeus port authority would be completed "within weeks," state agency Xinhua reported.
This would mark a change in policy, as the government in January had clearly pledged to halt the privatisation of Piraeus, one of the largest ports of the Mediterranean.
Chinese shipping giant COSCO already has a 35-year concession managing the two main container terminals at Piraeus, and is interested in obtaining a management role at the harbour too.
Dragasakis told Xinhua: "COSCO is an active participant (in the bid) and it can make a very competitive offer."
But the shipping minister Theodoros Dritsas quickly insisted that "these reports do not confirm a change in policy".
For the conservative New Democracy party that was previously in power, the episode is yet another example of how the Syriza government is wasting time.
"All this shows investors that they are not dealing with a serious country," former administrative reform minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Vima FM. "If (the government) continues to make their life difficult, they will look elsewhere."
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