Positive talk from Italy
February 3, 2015
The main players in Greece's new far-left, anti-austerity government are continuing their EU-wide push for better bailout terms. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (above middle) traveled to Italy for talks with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi (above left).
Center-left leader Renzi said he believed Athens would be able to strike a deal with the EU over its huge debts.
"I believe the conditions exist to find an accord with the European institutions," Renzi said at a joint press conference with Tsipras.
He joked that Tsipras' election win last week had been good for him personally. "Now I will no longer be considered the dangerous lefty (by Brussels)," Renzi said.
Tsipras' far-left Syriza party swept to victory a week and a half ago, and have come to power determined to relax Greece's tough austerity measures.
Bond swapping
In the meantime, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis floated the idea of debt swaps, that would avoid the need for creditors to accept a cut to his country's 315-billion-euro ($357 billion) foreign debt.
He talked about swapping European rescue loans and European Central Bank-owned Greek bonds, adding he was aiming for a four-month bridging program under which the ECB would promise to keep Greece's financial system afloat.
Varoufakis heads to Frankfurt on Wednesday for talks with ECB officials, who are reported to be opposed to his bridging proposal. The Financial Times newspaper, which reported Varoufakis' comments, says this opposition could result in Athens running out of cash at the end of February.
Greece has to strike a deal with creditors by the end of June. If it does not, it will be unable to repay about 7 billion euros worth of bonds maturing in July and August.
German visit planned
Varoufakis will meet his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble on Thursday in Berlin. So far, Europe's biggest economy flatly ruled out giving Greece any more leeway.
Speaking in Singapore, German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to calm tensions while remaining non-committal about the Greek proposals. "It is clear the Greek government is still establishing its position. We await their proposals and there will be enough time to discuss them," she said.
Tsipras is due to visit Brussels on Wednesday and will later head to Paris.
jr/bk (AP, AFP)