Monday Key for Greek Negotiations

Greece and its international creditors started talks on Friday on reforms needed to keep the country financed, increasing the possibility of a interim compromise deal between the euro zone and Athens at a ministerial meeting on Monday.

The talks between euro zone finance ministers and Greece on Monday are key, because they are the last moment for the new Greek government to ask for a technical extension of the current bailout program, which runs out on Feb 28.

Greece needs such an extension to ensure continued official financing at a time when market borrowing is too expensive for Athens and to be eligible for negotiations on more time to repay the euro zone loans already received.

But the left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras won elections in January on promises of ending the 240-billion euro bailout and the belt-tightening reforms that came with it and does not want to ask for an extension, even by a few months.

“There have been very good political debates … and now we need to get down to the hard facts, explaining what is in the (bailout reform) agreement and what are the quantified results of the new Greek government’s program,” a senior EU official close to the talks said.

via Reuters

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