Tough negotiations around the Greek debt will start this evening in Brussels, where the 19 finance ministers of the Eurozone will discuss Greece's appeal for more generous bailout conditions. Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis will be grilled for details on his proposed new deal to replace the frozen bailout agreements.
Athens is under intense pressure to stick to its extant commitments — with potentially softer terms — that enabled it to draw about 240 billioneurosin rescue loans since it nearly went bankrupt in 2010. Greece counters that itneeds a transitional agreement for continued support, but no new loans, until a final deal can be crafted by the end of the summer.
See also: No concrete proposal on Greek debt this week
In case of a non agreement (which seems more than likely), the hot potato will not be passed to the chiefs of state and government, who will meet 24 hours later, on Thursday evening,but will be left for the future Eurogroup meeting, on Monday 16 February.
The European Union's executive has already said that it is unlikely a final agreement with Greece over easing its bailout debt load will be reached at meetings this week. Mina Andreeva,spokeswoman for the EU's executive Commission, said Tuesday that the meetings will be a first opportunity for officials to speak with the newly elected Greek government.
Greece's new prime minister struck a defiant tone on the eve of high-stakes negotiations with skeptical European creditors, saying there is "no way back" for his radical left-led government in its quest to rewrite the barely solventcountry's bailout commitments.
Alexis Tsipras said late Tuesday that Greece is seeking a new deal with its bailout creditors that would not condemn Greeks battered by five bitter years of income cuts, tax hikes and record job losses "to a lifetime of misery."
Tsipras spoke just before a vote of confidence, which his two week-old government easily won by 162-137 votes. Tsipras' radical left Syriza party was backed by lawmakers from its unlikely coalition partner — a small populistright-wing party that says Greece could turn to Russia, the U.S. or China for help if talks with creditors fail.
"How much of the bailout deal do we accept? Zero percent. What percentage of the (cost-cutting) measures do we accept? About 30 percent of that agreement is toxic and we reject it,"Finance Minister YanisVaroufakis said.
"If you are not willing to even contemplate a rift, then you are not negotiating."
Germany's finance minister has signaled that any potential new pact will not be hastily arranged and could take some time.Germany, the main European contributor to Greece's rescue loans and a champion of fiscal discipline, took a tough line Tuesday, tempering market hopes that a compromise was in the works.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that the negotiations would be dead if Athens pulls out of the current bailout program.
He also said there was no chance of reaching a final deal in Brussels on Wednesday.
"The public statements (by Greece) are more confusing than helpful," Schaeuble said, speaking in Istanbul, Turkey, after a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers.
The current bailout program ends after Feb. 28, so both sides are under pressure to reach a deal.
In an interview today in the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, Pascal Lamy, the former director general of the World Trade Organisation (and previously chief of cabinet of the powerful EU Commission president Jacques Delors), speaks openly of a “revolution” taking place in Greece. “Arevolutionary process is replacing the old system, which crumbled”, says Pascal Lamy. “But it is not always a rational process. We shouldn’t forget that “tsipras” in Greek means the “eradicator”, which sends us back to roots like “radical”. The new leaders are renewing the political life,also, we hope, in its moral dimension."
Actually, the originof the surname Tsipras is rather obscure,but it is relevant, given the circumstances, that is should give rise to such abstruse speculations.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/tsipras-%E2%80%9Ceradicator%E2%80%9D-greece%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Ctoxic-reforms%E2%80%9D-discussed-brussels