Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday appealed to his party’s lawmakers to back a tough reforms package after abruptly offering last-minute concessions to try to save the country from financial meltdown.
After walking into a party meeting to applause, Tsipras rallied his SYRIZA lawmakers to throw their weight behind the new proposals ahead of a snap vote in parliament on the negotiations, urging them to help keep Greece in the euro.
“We are confronted with crucial decisions,” a government official quoted Tspiras telling party lawmakers.
“We got a mandate to bring a better deal than the ultimatum that the Eurogroup gave us, but certainly not given a mandate to take Greece out of the eurozone,” he said. “We are all in this together.”
It is unclear whether all the creditors would back the latest reforms package, which was strikingly similar to the terms Greece had rejected in a referendum Tsipras had called last month.
Germany sounded wary, with a finance ministry spokesman ruling out any debt reduction that would lower its real value.
However, France, Greece’s strongest supporter in the eurozone, rushed to offer praise, with French President Francois Hollande calling the offer “serious and credible.”
Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem called it a “thorough piece of text,” but declined to go into specifics.
“Broad support in Greece gives it more credibility, but even then we need to consider carefully whether the proposal is good and if the numbers add up,” he told reporters. “One way or the other, it is a very major decision we need to take.”
The lenders’ backing is crucial for eurozone leaders to support the proposals. Dijsselbloem, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde were due to make a first assessment of the plans by teleconference at 11am GMT, EU sources said.
European markets rallied on the improved prospects for a last-ditch deal to keep Greece in the eurozone, while Italian, Spanish and Portuguese bond yields fell, reflecting perception of reduced risk.
Nevertheless, Greece would have to overcome a hardening of attitudes towards it among its eurozone partners, including Germany, which has contributed more to Greek bailouts than any other country.
Some, including a senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, greeted the latest reform proposals with skepticism. Slovakia’s finance minister questioned whether the proposals went far enough.
Eurozone finance ministers are to meet today to decide whether to recommend opening negotiations on a third bailout program despite exasperation at the five-year-old Greek crisis.
A senior EU official said the meeting would include discussions on whether Greece needs some debt relief.
Greece asked for 53.5 billion euros (US$59 billion) to help cover its debts until 2018, a review of primary surplus targets in the light of the sharp deterioration of its economy and a “reprofiling” of the country’s long-term debt.
However, the plan could cause trouble for Tsipras at home, from hardliners in his own party, as well as his junior coalition ally. Any new deal would also have to be endorsed by national parliaments including in Germany.
“The proposals are not compatible with the SYRIZA program,” said Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, who belongs to the hard left wing of SYRIZA.
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