Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Greece, Euro-Area Partners Target Deal by Sunday

Bloomberg
April 29, 2015

Greece and its euro-area partners are stepping up talks in a bid to break an impasse over bailout aid amid conflicting signals from the country’s government over its willingness to agree on long-stalled reforms.

With Greece facing a cash crunch in early May, both sides in a meeting of euro-area officials agreed to pursue intensive negotiations beginning on Thursday with the target of a preliminary deal by May 3, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. The aim would be for finance ministers to sign off on the accord by their next scheduled meeting on May 11, the officials said, asking not to be named because the talks are private.

“I’m confident that there’s a common will and that in particular the will of the Greek government is indeed to find a solution,” French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told reporters in Rome.

A key factor in a potential breakthrough may be the decision by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to intervene and play a major role in the negotiations to help the process along. That gave the signal that his government may at last be willing to do what’s needed to unlock the stalled bailout.

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