Fra Guardien:
Tsipris’s call for negotiations to be accelerated may irk EU officials, who blame the Greek side for the lack of progress this year.
Earlier today, EC vice-president Jyrki Katainen said that trust between Athens and Brussels has been eroded in recent months.
Jyrki Katainen told a press conference in Athens that:
“You cannot negotiate if you don’t trust.
I have to be honest here, it has decreased. It’s not because of the people but it’s very difficult to understand everything, what is going on.”
He was in Greece to promote the EU’s new €315bn investment plan.
Here’s Reuters latest story from Brussels.
Greece’s Tsipras urges speeded up process to clinch debt deal
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for a speeding up of the process to conclude a reform-for-cash deal with euro zone creditors after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, a Greek official said.
The official said the short meeting on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels – their first since Tsipras visited Berlin on March 23 – took place “in a positive and constructive atmosphere”.
Euro zone officials say little progress has been made in detailed negotiations on a Greek economic reform programme, partly because Athens has denied representatives of its creditors access to state accounting data.
The official gave no details of their discussion but said: “During the meeting, the significant progress made since the Berlin meeting until today was noted. The prime minister asked that the procedures be speeded up so that the Feb. 20 decision, which foresees a first interim agreement by the end of April, be implemented.”
Tsipras pushed Merkel for ‘speeded up’ process
Alexis Tsipras has ended his meeting with Angela Merkel.
According to Reuters, Tsipras urged the German chancellor to help speed up the negotiations around Greece’s bailout, in an attempt to unlock the €7.2bn of outstanding funds soon.
- BRUSSELS – GREEK PM SAYS AFTER MERKEL TALKS HE CALLS FOR SPEEDED UP PROCESS TO IMPLEMENT FEBRUARY DEBT DEAL
- BRUSSELS – TSIPRAS SAYS TALKS WITH MERKEL TOOK PLACE IN “POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE SPIRIT”
An official has also told Bloomberg that Tsipras pushed Merkel for an ‘interim’ deal by the end of this month
