By Dr Nikolaos Georgikopoulos - Visiting Research Professor at NYU (Stern School of Business).

Since Syriza's ascent to power 5 months ago, I felt –and hoped- that the negotiations for Greece's Bailout program would hit the wall at the end of its current extension. Whether it was part of well thought out plan or the result of incompetency, it didn't matter. It just had to happen, as indeed it did.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected to ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel for an agreement to be reached by the end of the month, considering that Athens has taken important steps.