Over in Athens there has been some commotion this afternoon between Greece and its creditors. Our correspondent Helena Smith reports:

In a highly embarrassing move, the leftist-led government has had to withdraw its much-touted “parallel economic program” - outlining measures to ease the debt-stricken country’s humanitarian crisis – under threat of having its next aid disbursement withheld. The program had been central to prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ promise that while his government had been forced to swallow the bitter pill of austerity – the price of being bailed out to the tune of €86bn this summer - harsh reforms would be offset with assistance for the most needy.

Almost immediately there was uproar.

Zoe Konstantopoulou, parliament’s erstwhile president, one of 25 MPs who broke away from Tsipras’ Syriza party this year, tweeted that Greece had a “puppet government” that was “dancing to the tune of lenders.” Others said it was yet another example of the leftist-led coalition being boxed into a corner.

Eurozone officials, who provisionally approved the €1bn aid instalment after the social measures were rescinded, said the funding would likely be disbursed Friday night. The disputed program would be reviewed in early January, they said, clarifying that Greece had failed to inform lenders of the cost of such measures.