Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras echoed the standing government line of a "milestone year" in 2018, in comments to his Cabinet on Monday in Athens, given that August marks the end of the current and third consecutive bailout program extended to the country.
"... (2018) is a year full of challenges that, in order to be implemented, necessitate hard work, so that (2018) is a year of vindication for the sacrifices of the Greek people," he said.
Moreover, Tsipras said his government, a leftist-rightist coalition, will step up its policies and initiatives, making "even more clear its class-based direction..."
He also said recession-battered Greece is returning to sovereign capital markets after the end of the third bailout in August, as well as what he called an end to a "long cycle of supervision (by creditors)."
Finally, he also mentioned heightened speculation over pending, and by all accounts, intensified negotiations to finally solve the nearly three-decade-long "fYRoM name issue".
"Over the next few days substantive steps will come," he said, in reference to the issue.
