Athens: Greece was under pressure yesterday to finalise reform proposals that would keep its loan lifeline open after an EU compromise deal clipped its anti-austerity ambitions.
The new hard-left government in Athens has until tomorrow to convince its sceptical European creditors that it could piece together a credible set of alternative fiscal reforms.
After a last-ditch negotiation on Friday that saw his government dramatically climb down from its radical agenda, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insisted that Athens had achieved an “important negotiating success” which “cancels out austerity.”
In a televised address, Tsipras said his government had foiled a plan by “blind conservative forces” in Greece and abroad to bankrupt the country at the end of the month, when its European bailout had been scheduled to expire.
But as fears of a disastrous Greek exit from the eurozone receded, the 40-year-old premier warned that the “real difficulties” lie ahead. He said his government would now focus on negotiating a new reform blueprint with Greece’s creditors by June.
The new leftist government had asked for a six-month loan assistance until it can submit its four-year reform plans. Instead, it received a maximum of four months in which to reach an agreement with its eurozone partners, but no money to tide it over in the meantime.
Markets reacted positively to the deal, with Wall Street soaring to new records as news of the agreement broke. AFP
