|
 Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government also sacked the heads of
the state privatization agency after halting a series of state asset
sales.
The politically unpopular policy of privatization to help cut debt
is one of the conditions of Greece's 240-billion-euro bailout that
has imposed years of harsh austerity on Greece.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis met Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of
the euro zone finance ministers' group, for what both men described
as "constructive" talks. But Greek media seized on signs of frosty
body language between them and the hour-long meeting appeared to do
nothing to bridge the gap between them.
The meeting marks the start of Athens' drive to persuade its
creditors to ease the strict terms of the bailout. It precedes
planned visits by Tsipras and Varoufakis to London, Paris and Rome
next week.
Although neither France nor Italy has shown any sign of accepting
the new Greek government's demand to write off part of its 320
billion-euro debt, they have both previously called for a change of
course from German-style budget austerity.
Tsipras has repeatedly said he wants to keep Greece in the euro but
he has also made clear he will not back away from election campaign
pledges to roll back the terms of the bailout.
 His government, winner of last Sunday's election, has raced ahead
with a series of anti-bailout moves including reinstating thousands
of public servants laid off by the previous government as well as
cancelling privatizations.
But Germany, Europe's paymaster, is also digging in.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Berlin was open for talks
with the new government about its debt, but he also made clear that
Athens had to do its part.
"We need solidarity in Europe, and besides we cannot be
blackmailed," Schaeuble said.
After a volatile week in which banking stocks fell by as much as 40
percent, financial markets fell back after recouping some ground on
Thursday. The main Athens stock market index was down 1.6 percent
<.ATG>. Greek 10-year yields <GT10YT=TWEB> were down 22 basis points
at 10.37 percent but still well above levels seen before Sunday's
election.
BANK FUNDING
Varoufakis said Greece had no intention of cooperating with a
mission from the lending "troika" of the European Union, European
Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, which had been due to
return to Athens. He said Greece would not seek an extension to a
Feb. 28 deadline with euro zone lenders.
"This platform enabled us to win the confidence of the Greek
people," he told reporters after meeting Dijsselbloem. "Our first
action as a government will not be to reject the rationale of
questioning this program through a request to extend it."
[to top of second column] |
He gave no indication of what Greece would do if it cannot reach an
agreement by the deadline. The center-right New Democracy party,
which lost power in Sunday's election, said the new government "does
not understand what it is about to do."
Without the EU/IMF bailout program, Greece's banks would lose their
access to ECB funding.
Dijsselbloem said a decision on the bailout deadline would be
reached before the end of February but he rejected Greece's push for
a special conference on debt, saying such a forum already existed in
the shape of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers.
Athens is waiting on a final bailout tranche of 7.2 billion euros
($8.13 billion) and has been shut out of international bond markets.
It faces around 10 billion euros in debt repayments this summer.
Like Germany, France has rejected suggestions that part of the Greek
debt could be written off, but Paris has been more open to the
possibility of offering other forms of relief such as pushing back
debt maturity or cutting interest rates.
Varoufakis said he had assured Dijsselbloem that Athens planned to
implement reforms to make the economy more competitive and stick to
balanced budgets, but it would not accept a "self-fed crisis" of
deflation and non-viable debt.
In turn, Dijsselbloem said he had told the new government to respect
the terms of the existing agreement between Greece and the euro zone
and warned against taking unilateral steps, saying it was important
not to reverse progress made so far.
He said euro zone partners were ready to continue supporting Athens
until it can begin borrowing on the markets again "provided that
Greece fully complies with the requirements and objectives of the
program".
Earlier on Friday Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said the
government was examining its options on a Canadian-run gold mine,
one of the biggest foreign investment projects in Greece.
Privatization had been meant to raise billions for Greece's depleted
state coffers but proceeds have been disappointing so far, amounting
to no more than around 3 billion euros, a fraction of an initially
targeted 22 billion euros.
($1 = 0.8858 euros)
(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos;
Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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