Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras – AFP

20 Minutes with AFP

This is what is called temporizing. The Greek government tried Saturday to calm the anxiety which welcomed its first announcement, before starting this weekend in Paris for a European tour after his allies in its offensive against austerity.



“Time to breathe”

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras asked Saturday in a statement by his office “time to breathe,” and assured “do not seek conflict” with European partners Greece, notably Germany with which the dialogue of the deaf continues, and international. As he had said during his campaign, he promised again to take no decision “unilateral” on the very thorny issue of the debt of the country.

“I am absolutely convinced that we will soon find a better deal, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole, “he wrote in a statement clearly intended to curb runaway from threatening his government from the radical left took office Wednesday.

On Friday, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was especially noted that Athens was cutting ties with the “Troika”, the delegation of experts from the IMF, the ECB and the European Union which validates the payment of aid to Greece in assessing its economic and fiscal policy.

The furious Germany

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called the attitude of the Greek government as “irresponsible” in a interview published Saturday. Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated that he was not about to grant Greece a “erasure”, even partial, of its debt.

Yet it is a priority of the new claim government led by the party of the radical left Syriza. It take to make this board with the Franco-American company Lazard, including Vice President for Europe Matthieu Pigasse publicly pleaded Friday for a discount of Greek debt by as much as 100 billion euros on a total of 315 billion.

This is to defend a debt restructuring, but also a vast stimulus program (re-employment of civil servants, increasing the minimum wage, aid to poor households) and late privatizations, including that of the iconic port of Piraeus, Messrs. Tsipras Varoufakis and began a tour of European capitals.



The Greeks shun berlin

If the Greek emissaries will go through France, Spain and Italy, they n ‘ have so far have not planned to go to Berlin, and dialogue of the deaf therefore continues through the press.

The finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble assured in an interview with Die Welt Saturday: “If I was responsible Greek politician, I do not mènerais debate on debt relief.” Der Spiegel lifted its cover a picture of the Greek Prime Minister with the caption: “The nightmare of Europe.” And the media broadcast a poll showing that 76% of Germans are against deletion of Greek debt

Portugal has ranked behind Germany. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho refused any ” conference to be proposed to cancel or restructure debt by appealing to the solidarity of the European peoples. “

According to a source familiar with the matter, the Baltic countries are also supporters of firmness with regard to Greece.