FT Alphaville " Greek troika soap opera France thinks Greece should get the two extra years that it's been seeking to achieve the cuts outlined in its 2013-14 austerity programme. The French PM: Speaking in an interview with the French news website Mediapart, Mr Ayrault said: "We can already offer [Greece] more time . . . on the condition that Greece is sincere in its commitment to reform, especially tax reform." Meanwhile, the troika inspectors of the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank announced on Friday that they are taking a one-week break from their talks with Greek leaders in Athens. Even though the group of Greece's creditors said "good progress" had been made so far on austerity talks, it now looks like the next loan tranche - of some €31.5bn - will not be disbursed before November. From the FT's Dimitris Kontogiannis: There appear to be differences within the troika over the sustainability of the Greek public debt, people familiar with the negotiations said. Oh, and there could be something else, as Gary Jenkins at Swordfish Research outlined in a note on Monday morning (emphasis ours): Meanwhile in Greece the Troika decided to take a "brief pause" which is expected to last about a week and probably has something to do with the speculation in at least one German paper that the budget gap is close to double that previously expected. €20bn rather than €10bn. The report was in Der Spiegel - the German-language version, apparently - but The Independent has this: The magazine said it based its figure on a preliminary report from the so-called Troika of experts from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank who are assessing Greek progress in implementing reforms. Der Spiegel said Athens would qualify for its next tranche of eurozone bailout funding only if the deficit gap were closed. It said Mr Samaras had been asking creditors whether they would be prepared to write off Greece's debts in order to make up the shortfall. Come again? Related links: Greece braced for bailout delay - FT Greece grapples with shadow of Golden Dawn - FT This entry was posted by Kate Mackenzie on Monday, September 24th, 2012 at 9:31 and is filed under Uncategorised. Tagged with austerity, Greece, Greek bailout, troika.