France has
pledged to help Greece's new government as it seeks a better deal with its
international creditors. The pledge came during a meeting between Greece's new
finance minister and his French counterpart in Paris.
Deutsche Welle, 1 Feb 2015
French
Finance Minister Michel Sapin (pictured above right) told a joint news
conference with visiting Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (above left)
on Sunday that France's Socialist government was prepared to help the new
left-wing-led government in Athens to negotiate a new agreement with its trio
of creditors, the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the
International Monetary Fund.
"France
is more than prepared to support Greece," Sapin said, before calling for a
"new contract between Greece and its partners."
Sapin also
expressed understanding for the new Syriza-led government's concern about the
level of debt Greece had taken on, as part of its 240-billion euro ($270
billion) bailout.
"Yes,
debt is an issue, among others," Sapin conceded to reporters.
For his
part, Varoufakis insisted that Greece did want to pay back what it owes its
creditors, playing down previous talk from the new Greek prime minister in
particular about seeking debt-forgiveness from the troika.
Such talk
had sparked serious concerns in many European countries, so much so that German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out the possibility in a interview published in
the Saturday edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.
In Paris,
on Sunday, Varoufakis reiterated that Athens wanted a deal with new terms,
which would allow Greece's economy to grow. He also repeated a statement first
reported on Friday in which he ruled out negotiating this deal with the troika
as pointless, as they had imposed the strict terms of the current agreement.
Going 'cold
turkey'
Varoufakis
also ruled out accepting a new tranche of debt from the current bailout,
arguing that Greece had become addicted to indebtedness and that it was time to
go "cold turkey."
"We
were elected to put an end to the addiction," he said.
Varoufakis
said he was eager to get a new deal done "by the end of May."
His meeting
with Sapin was just the start of his part of a Greek charm offensive that he is
spearheading along with new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, aimed at easing the
tension with other EU member states and the European Commission and ECB after
the rhetoric heated up over the past few days. Varoufakis' next stop is London
on Monday, before heading to Rome on Tuesday.
Conspicuously
absent from his current itinerary is Berlin, the capital of the EU's biggest
economy, as well as Frankfurt, the seat of the ECB. "I'm really eager to
go to Berlin... Madrid, Frankfurt," he stressed, noting that the
diplomatic efforts were just starting.
Tsipras
calls Juncker
Prime
Minister Tsipras began his part of the charm offensive using the telephone on
the weekend.
Sources
close to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Sunday that
Tsipras called Juncker on Saturday seeking direct talks. According to the DPA
news agency, the discussion "ran smoothly" and ended with an
agreement to hold talks on Wednesday - when Tsipras is also to meet with
President Francois Hollande in Paris.
pfd/bk (Reuters, dpa, AFP, AP)
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