Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras over the weekend reiterated that his government wants a “comprehensive solution” in negotiations with creditors that includes debt relief measures for the crisis-battered country.
His comments came amid ongoing deliberations, held from a distance over the past week, to finally conclude a second review of the Greek program, which is now more than a year in delay.
In a statement carried by the Athens daily “Ethnos”, Tsipras said new (austerity) measures will be implemented under the condition that an agreement to substantially relieve Greece’s debt load is also achieved.
“We will vote for measures and countervailing measures, which will be implemented after 2019, and only if, in the meantime, there are substantive measures for the debt, which will be have started to be implemented,” Tsipras was quoted as saying.
On Saturday, Tsipras appeared optimistic about the prospect of a staff-level agreement being finally achieved by his embattled leftist government and institutional creditors.
Exiting a ruling SYRIZA party meeting, and conscious of the fact it was April 1, an upbeat Tsipras told reporters that “…yes, we’ll have one (an agreement this month), but no matter what I tell you today, it’s the first of April (April’s Fools Day) and you won’t believe me.”
