Greek PM talks up the future as French Finance Minister backs urgent deal for Greece

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras talked up the country’s future ahead of the Eurogroup meeting June 15, where he hoped to resolve the debt issue once and for all.

“A decision on June 15 that will resolve definitively the Greek issue is more necessary but also more feasible than ever in the coming days, we have the opportunity to take these decisions. We will bring specific solutions at the Eurogroup. There’s a way out, as long as it is not blocked by political expediencies,” he added and reiterated his position that it is the creditors’ turn “to do what they can and what they ought to do”.

Tsipras was speaking at the recent Concordia Europe Summit in Athens where he urged all stakeholders to start discussions on Greece’s transition to a period of growth noting that the country is suffering the consequences of wrong choices of either previous policies or of Greece’s creditors who suggested the wrong recipe for overcoming the crisis.

Tsipras also noted that this is an opportunity for the government, the institutions, society and the sector of healthy entrepreneurship to join forces to create new wealth and new jobs for the country. “Our partners will do whatever is necessary to place growth in the agenda of priorities,” he said.

The Greek PM’s calls for a solution were backed by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire who said that finding a solution for Greece was at the top of the agenda in his recent meeting with his German and Italian counterparts in Paris, as well as Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Regarding his meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble Le Maire said it was “a great pleasure to receive Schaeuble at Bercy” and that they had worked together to advance French-German cooperation for the benefit of Europe.

Discussing Cyprus, the Prime Minister asked for the withdrawal of Turkish troops, adding that Greece maintains a bilateral dialog with the neighbouring country and supports like no other European country the EU-Turkish cooperation. He also said Greece supports Turkey’s EU accession talks and insisted on bringing about the difficult but necessary EU-Turkey deal on migration which cut refugee flows.