Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos
Greece has agreed on the broad terms of a new three-year bailout package with international creditors, with only a few details left to iron out, officials said yesterday.
Euclid Tsakalotos sounded upbeat about the prospects of quickly finalizing a deal that would prevent the country’s default next week and secure its future in the euro.
“We are very close. Two or three very small details remain,” he said as he emerged yesterday morning from all-night discussions with the creditors’ negotiators.
The European Commission, a key negotiator in the talks, confirmed the progress.
“The institutions and the Greek authorities achieved an agreement in-principle on a technical basis and talks are still ongoing on finalizing details,” said Annika Breidthardt, the Commission’s spokeswoman for economic affairs. She said the details were expected to be cleared up yesterday.
She noted that an agreement still requires approval from higher-level representatives, and that senior finance officials from the 28 EU nations would hold a conference call later yesterday.
Germany, the largest single contributor to Greece’s two previous bailouts and among the toughest negotiators so far, remained cautious. “We will have to examine the results that come in the course of today,” deputy finance minister Jens Spahn told n-tv television.
A draft of the agreement cited by the Greek daily Kathimerini said the deal included a package of more than 30 measures that would have to be voted on in Greece’s Parliament immediately, followed by a second package of measures to be adopted from October onwards.
Investors cheered the news of progress.
Greece’s government borrowing rates fell, a sign investors are less worried about a default. The 2-year bond yield dropped by 4.2 percentage points to 14.73 percent. The Athens Stock Exchange, which reopened recently after being shut for five weeks during the most severe part of Greece’s financial crisis, was up 2.2 percent in midday trading.
Greece’s government is hoping to push the new 85 billion euro (USD93 billion) three-year agreement through parliament this week, ahead of an expected meeting between eurozone finance ministers on Friday. Derek Gatopoulos and Elena Becatoros, Athens, AP
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