Athens: Greece's new leftist government was fine-turning details of a reform deal it hopes to seal with sceptical EU creditors at crucial talks this week to liberate the country from a "toxic" bailout.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced a confidence vote in parliament over his policy package, but while he was expected to breeze through his first domestic political test, time to woo those holding the purse-strings was running out.
At talks kicking off with an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday, Greece will plead its case for stop-gap financing,with a view to clinching an austerity-free reform deal to run from September 1.
The new premier will meet Angel Gurria, chairman of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, on Wednesday to polish the government's proposals a day before a full EU summit in Brussels on tomorrow.
Tsipras is pushing for creditors to loosen the tough conditions of the USD 270-billion bailout Greece was forced to accept in the aftermath of the financial crisis, to allow it to spend more to give its economy a boost.
Athens will propose that the "toxic" fiscal obligations of its present EU-IMF bailout deal -- including a debt load worth 1.75 times the country's entire annual economic output -- be replaced by a 10-step reform blueprint drawn up in cooperation with the OECD, a Greek finance ministry source said Monday.
The government is ready to play ball on 70 percent of its reform obligations but wants to overhaul the remaining 30 percent, the source said.
While Greece's creditors want Athens to apply for an extension to the bailout -- and stave off the risk of bankruptcy -- the government is pushing for a bridge loan which would buy time for negotiations but free it of its austerity shackles.
The source said such a deal could let both sides save face: "We call it a bridge. They can call it a technical extension."
Greece's main daily, the centre-left Ta Nea, said the Greek proposals add up to "a programme which begins to look like an attempt at a compromise aimed at finding an agreement, though we're still far off."
Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said late Monday that if negotiations with the eurozone fail, the country would go to 'Plan B', which could involve asking for funding from the United States, Russia or China.
But Tsipras had appeared to rule out that idea last week, saying the government had "no other thoughts" at the moment than settling the issue with Europe because "we have obligations towards them."
