ATHENS: Greece’s government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said that government pledged to pull together a comprehensive list of reforms within a week, to unlock €7.2bn funds. The program demanded by Greece’s increasingly impatient creditors would be finished within days.
Sakellaridis told Mega TV, potentially teeing up another crunch meeting in Brussels to decide Greece’s future within the eurozone. Although Greece’s financial position remains perilous, there are signs that Alexis Tsipras’s visit to Berlin on Monday improved ties between the eurozone’s largest member and its smaller, indebted neighbour.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, declared that relations between the two countries have improved. “I’m pleased that the atmosphere in German-Greece talks in recent days has changed and improved significantly,” Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin.German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Greece PM Alexis Tsipras Facebook Twitter Pinterest German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (right) meets Greek PM Alexis Tsipras in a Berlin hotel room.
Greece government bonds strengthened on Tuesday on hopes of a breakthrough. The yield on Greece’s two-year debt fell from nearly 22% to 20%, a level that still suggests a high risk of default or restructuring. The UK chancellor, George Osborne, gave an insight into how toxic relations had become in recent weeks as Athens tried to break away from its austerity program.
“The risks of Greece leaving are rising, because the ill-will around the table is palpable between the eurozone and Greece,” Osborne told parliament’s Treasury select committee. Britain must be prepared for the danger that Greece leaves the eurozone through “accident or misjudgment”, Osborne added. Chancellor George Osborne answers questions at the Treasury select committee.
Greece must present a credible list of reforms to its creditors soon, to unlock the €7.2bn (£5.3bn) of bailout funds still available under its existing financial program. Its financial position remains very fragile, with €467m due to be repaid to the IMF on 9 April.
