Negotiations between the government and troika representatives are not expected to conclude before tomorrow’s Eurogroup meeting in Dublin, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said yesterday evening.

Talks with the troika would be continued next week, Stournaras told journalists exiting a meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and the government’s economic staff.

Asked what he will report at the Eurogroup on the negotiations, he said “it is enough for me to say that the negotiations are continuing and that we are on a good path,” AMNA writes.

According to media reports, Stournaras insisted that there was no “blockage” in talks and that there would be “no problem” with the release of further rescue funding, though he gave no indication about when Greece can hope to receive two loan tranches worth EUR 2.8 billion and EUR 6 billion respectively.

According to a leaked document forming the basis of the talks with the troika as regards the civil service, troika

officials have a set of demands. These reportedly include the completion of staffing plans for 275,000 employees, the immediate placing of 8,500 state workers into a mobility scheme, the dismissal of 2,000 civil servants accused of disciplinary offenses, and the approval of a plan for the gradual dismissal of a total of 20,000 state workers by the end of 2014 (of these, 7,500 should leave by the end of this year).

According to Kathimerini, Administrative Reforms minister Antonis Manitakis claims this the immediate dismissal of the 2,000 oath-breaking civil servants is not so straightforward as disciplinary cases must be resolved before staff can be dismissed. Sources said the government was drafting a bill to accelerate the process of the disciplinary hearings though Stournaras denied this yesterday, the paper writes.

The issue appeared to be driving a wedge between conservative New Democracy, which leads the coalition, and the Democratic Left party, to which Manitakis belongs. Democratic Left MPs claimed that four conservative ministers – holding the Health, Labor, Education and Interior portfolios – were to blame for the delay in civil service reform, not Manitakis.