Greek PM: Debt deal depends on involved parties
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says a deal with international creditors on his country’s debt crisis is possible if all involved parties work together.
The Greek premier made the remarks on Sunday ahead of a eurozone summit in the Belgian capital, Brussels.
"I'm here for an honest compromise. We owe that to the people of Europe. We can reach an agreement tonight if all parties want it," Tsipras said.
After arriving in Brussels on Sunday, French President Francois Hollande said his country would do “everything to find an accord allowing Greece to stay in the euro.”
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of tough upcoming negotiations, adding that an agreement would not be reached “at any price.”
Merkel also said a meeting of the eurozone finance ministers known as the Eurogroup, held ahead of the summit in Brussels, had not yet resulted in an agreement over a document for formally launching negotiations on a deal.
An unnamed European Union diplomat said the Eurogroup is working "on a document with brackets (areas of disagreement), and will ask the heads of state and government to fill the gaps."
The eurozone ministers are pressuring Greece to endorse economic reforms, including tax hikes and pension cuts, in order to receive a third bailout worth €74 billion (USD 83 billion).
Tsipras has submitted his own set of proposals to creditors in order to avoid an exit from the eurozone.
Earlier, European Council President Donald Tusk said the summit of the 19 eurozone leaders starting on Sunday, would last until talks on Greece were concluded.
Greece received two bailout packages in 2010 and 2012, worth a total of €240 billion (USD 272 billion), from the creditors following its 2009 economic crisis in exchange for implementing tough austerity measures.
The country has already defaulted on a €1.5-billion debt payment to the International Monetary Fund.
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