File Photo: Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. (Associated Press)
Athens:
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will unveil a high-stakes economic programme today ahead of a key meeting with eurozone finance ministers this week when Athens will push for a new debt deal with international creditors.
The leader of Greece's new anti-austerity government will present his debt and economic reform plans against the backdrop of mounting fears that Greece could default on its loans and exit the eurozone.
After a diplomatic blitz of European capitals by Mr Tsipras and his finance minister last week, the Greek cabinet met for three hours yesterday to hammer out details of the speech to be presented to lawmakers at 5 pm, local time.
Government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said the cabinet had discussed a "stop-gap" plan to see the country through the end of June while continuing to push for a new deal with EU partners.
Despite international pressure the coalition, led by the radical left Syriza party, has no intention of backing down on its campaign promises to renegotiate its massive 2010 bailout, he reiterated in an interview with RealNews paper published today.
There was "no point" in prolonging a rescue programme that had "led to a dead end", he said.
Once the temporary plan -- which will focus on aid for people worst hit by years of austerity imposed by the EU and IMF -- was in place, "we will have the time to agree (with the EU) on a plan of reforms, without blackmail," he added.
That three-year reform plan, also to be unveiled today, focuses mainly on tax evasion and corruption and improving public governance, a government source said.
Crunch European meetings
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will take Greece's proposals to an extraordinary meeting of eurozone finance ministers Wednesday in Brussels.
The following day Mr Tsipras will hold his first face-to-face talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an EU summit.
So far Greece's demands for more time to renegotiate the country's massive 240-billion-euro ($275 billion) EU-IMF rescue deal have hit a wall, with European paymaster Germany vehemently opposed.
The European portion of the bailout is due to expire at the end of the month, putting Athens under pressure to do a quick deal or ask for an extension.
Hanging in the balance for Greece is the final 1.8 billion euro loan instalment from the eurozone, but the new Syriza government refuses the austerity measures at the heart of current bailout, saying it would prefer refuse the cash and start from scratch with a new deal.
On Friday, the two-week-old government appealed for temporary funding from its EU partners to tide it over while continuing the negotiations.
Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said the goal at this week's Eurogroup meeting was not to set up a confrontation with Greece but to "look for shared solutions".
With no agreement appearing close at hand, credit ratings agencies warned Friday that Greece was heading closer to defaulting on its loans, a move that could see it exit the eurozone.
Standard and Poor's downgraded Greece to just one notch above the range indicating vulnerability to a default, and warned of a "worst-case scenario" in which it would leave the single currency.
Moody's said it was placing Greece on review for a downgrade because of "considerable uncertainty regarding the outcome of the ensuing negotiations".
'Adaptation or confrontation'
Greece is expected to return to growth this year after six years of recession that has left it with sky-high unemployment and its economy in tatters.
But after the European Central Bank pulled the plug on a key source of funding for Greece's banks this week, the banks - and by extension the state - are now reliant on the Frankfurt bank's emergency liquidity funds.
As part of its push for a restart in relations with its lenders, Greece is refusing to negotiate with officials representing the EU-IMF-ECB troika that have been overseeing the implementation of reforms.
European Parliament president Martin Schulz of Germany suggested a possible compromise.
In an interview with Germany's Tagesspiegel am Sonntag weekly Schulz said Greece could "report on its progress to its EU and IMF partners" directly.
For Greece's liberal Kathimerini paper, the coming week would be either see an "adaptation of both sides to reality" or "a confrontation".
Sakellaridis, the government spokesman, sounded an optimistic note. "The EU's tradition is to compromise after a long period of tough negotiation. We will reach a deal in the end," he predicted.
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