Greeks: we’re nearly there
HOPES rose last night that a bailout deal for Greece could finally be on the verge of completion, despite ongoing bickering between politicians from the ailing Mediterranean state and its main lenders.
“We are almost there,” one Eurozone official said yesterday, signalling that euro finance ministers could sign an agreement at their meeting scheduled for Monday.
“Greece has done what it had to do,” claimed New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras, whose opposition to some austerity measures had been seen as a potential barrier to the deal. “There is no certainty but there is cautious optimism,” Samaras said.
But despite the more positive noises, tit-for-tat exchanges were yet again heard between Greek and German officials.
“We are starting to believe Germany wants to kick Greece out of the Eurozone,” a Greek official told Reuters. “Some recent German statements have been particularly provocative and offensive.”
German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble provoked further anger by referring to Italian technocrat Mario Monti having a year to push through reforms – a statement seen as a hint that Greece should defer its elections, expected in April.