AFP, Athens :
Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos begins a six-day European charm offensive Friday to pursuade key creditors that Greece’s reform efforts are credible enough to ensure their continuing financial support.
Greece’s leftist government in July signed a third debt rescue programme worth 86 billion euros ($92 billion) after the country looked to be on the brink of crashing out of the eurozone.
Representatives of the creditors — the European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and the ESM European bailout fund — will return to Athens on January 18 to monitor adherence to the programme.
Tsakalotos will first travel to Rome for talks with his counterpart Pier Carlo Padoan, and will then head to Lisbon, Paris, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Berlin to see Mario Centeno, Michel Sapin, Alexander Stubb, Jeroen Dijsselbloem and Wolfgang Schaeuble.
“Tsakalotos will discuss the course of the European programme, in view of the first evaluation, as well as the issue of the Greek debt,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos is also reportedly planning a series of high-profile visits this month to Moscow and Berlin to see Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Greece hopes that the end of this evaluation will kickstart a discussion on how to make repayment of its huge public debt more sustainable.
Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos begins a six-day European charm offensive Friday to pursuade key creditors that Greece’s reform efforts are credible enough to ensure their continuing financial support.
Greece’s leftist government in July signed a third debt rescue programme worth 86 billion euros ($92 billion) after the country looked to be on the brink of crashing out of the eurozone.
Representatives of the creditors — the European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and the ESM European bailout fund — will return to Athens on January 18 to monitor adherence to the programme.
Tsakalotos will first travel to Rome for talks with his counterpart Pier Carlo Padoan, and will then head to Lisbon, Paris, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Berlin to see Mario Centeno, Michel Sapin, Alexander Stubb, Jeroen Dijsselbloem and Wolfgang Schaeuble.
“Tsakalotos will discuss the course of the European programme, in view of the first evaluation, as well as the issue of the Greek debt,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos is also reportedly planning a series of high-profile visits this month to Moscow and Berlin to see Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Greece hopes that the end of this evaluation will kickstart a discussion on how to make repayment of its huge public debt more sustainable.
