Greece’s finance minister has insisted that Athens expects the European Central Bank to maintain a funding lifeline while the week-old Syriza government negotiates new bailout terms.
Speaking at a press conference with Michel Sapin, his French counterpart, Yanis Varoufakis said: “It’s not that we don’t need the money; we’re desperate. It is perfectly possible in conjunction with the ECB to establish the liquidity provisions that are necessary.”
By last night Mr Varoufakis had unveiled outline proposals to end the confrontation with Greece’s creditors. He said the government would no longer call for a headline write-off of Greece’s €315 billion of foreign debt. Instead, he told the Financial Times, the country would ask for a “menu of debt swaps” to ease the burden, including two types