THE scene is familiar: burly Greek bodyguards hustle a trio of foreign bureaucrats into the finance ministry through a side entrance to avoid a cluster of anti-austerity protesters shouting “troika go home”. Hours later tight-lipped representatives of the troika—the European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank (ECB)—head back to their hotel while ministry officials spin their version of the talks: heroic Greek resistance to “excessive” demands made by the country’s international creditors.After almost six months of talks the stand-off is still unresolved. Greece has implemented only about half the measures it signed up to last summer, say European Union (EU) officials. The troika returned to Athens on February 24th, intending to reach a deal that could be approved at a meeting of the euro-zone finance ministers on March 10th. That would unlock another sizeable tranche of bail-out funding, enabling Greece to repay €9.3 billion ($12.8 billion) of bonds maturing in May, and start planning a return to international financial markets with a modest bond issue later this year.Disputes over liberalising the market for fresh milk and allowing supermarkets to sell non-prescription drugs underline how the fragile coalition government led by Antonis Samaras, the centre-right prime minister, is held hostage by interest groups. Other disagreements grab fewer headlines but could do...
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