Reuters reporting yesterday on comments made by EU officials

Eurogroup Working Group President Thomas Wieser told the Kathimerini weekly newspaper:

"There is no chance that the first review will conclude without the IMF,"

"This is not my personal opinion or that of EU institutions, but a reality that occurs from the parliamentary procedures in some member states,"

Another EU official, European Stability Mechanism (ESM) head Klaus Regling, said the IMF would participate in Greece's bailout with a small contribution, adding in an interview to weekly newspaper To Vima that this was agreed in July.

The ESM chief said the organization aimed to re-profile Greece's debt and smooth servicing payments to make it viable and attract investors.

"We will aim to smooth the profile of the debt... If we manage to extend a little more the period of the already very low repayments, then we will attract investors,"

Earlier this week Greek PM Alexis Tsipras accused the IMF of making unrealistic reform demands which I reported here triggering a reaction from German finmin Wolfgang Schauble, who said it was not in Greece's interest to question the fund's involvement.

Reuters has more here

Like it or not Tsipras is not losing one of this group any time soon