Europe may be about to let Greece out of the financial doghouse, yet the wrangling is set to escalate over the terms and conditions. Finance ministers from the euroland meet in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Friday for talks on easing repayment terms on Greek bailout loans. While Germany is indicating it may take less of a hard line, there are persistent differences among nations and the International Monetary Fund over how much leeway to give and how much supervision should continue, Bloomberg reported. All sides need to reach an agreement in June before Greece’s financial lifeline expires at the end of the summer and Europe’s most indebted country relies once more on the bond market for money. Talks in the Bulgarian capital will focus on the so-called growth adjustment mechanism that would ultimately link debt repayments to economic performance. Greece could pay more in better times, and less in worse. “We still have a final mile to go but there is a positive sentiment around the table,” Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno, who chairs the summits, said in an interview last week. “The positions today are much closer than they used to be.”
