Greek deal pledge cheers investors

The Greek government promised to do “whatever we can” to secure a deal with its international creditors next week, cheering investors as experts from both sides began technical talks yesterday to lay the ground for an accord.

Fears of financial chaos have seen savers taking their cash out of Greek banks — a movement banking sources said had been the reason for the ECB offering more emergency funding for Greek banks on Thursday until after crunch talks among eurozone finance ministers on Monday.

Greek markets rose strongly after new prime minister Alexis Tsipras, elected on a promise to scrap a bailout deal he says has impoverished millions, agreed to have aides sit down with officials from the troika.

A spokesman for Tsipras, who had accepted the offer of the technical talks during his first encounter with fellow EU leaders at a Brussels summit on Thursday, said: “We will do whatever we can so that a deal is found on Monday.”

Tsipras wants a new financial package, freed of unpopular terminology and the most burdensome conditions. But Germany, backed solidly so far by the other 17 eurozone states, insists his government should extend the current terms for some months, giving it time to develop a new strategy if it wishes.

Greek spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis also said that if eurogroup ministers failed to get a deal in Brussels on Monday evening, that would not be catastrophic — a view not entirely shared in some other European capitals, especially those like Berlin and Helsinki where any deal with Greece will need to be ratified by local parliaments before it could take effect.

Yesterday’s talks in Brussels, which could continue through to Monday, aim to identify which elements of the bailout are compatible with what Tsipras says he was elected to carry out.

EU leaders say Greece is free to propose other ways of managing its budget and huge debts, but that these must give creditors — mostly other EU states — credible prospects of being repaid.

Pierre Moscovici, the former French finance minister who now runs economic affairs for the European Commission, said he was “optimistic” about a deal next week and warned against a failure that many fear would bring unpredictable disruption to Europe.He said Tsipras “must respect promises and at the same time we are ready, we Europeans, to see what margins of manoeuvre are possible.”

Greek spokesman Sakellaridis insisted, however, that Athens remains opposed to implementing reforms that intensify austerity cuts.