EU demands reforms from Athens before second bailout

As Athens is caught in the middle of a game of brinkmanship with its creditors, the EU warned they wanted new reforms even before they sign up to the second bailout and its austerity programme.

The country, now in its fifth year of recession, needs its next tranche of money by mid-April if it is not to default on its loans. But it must first agree a 50% cut in the face value of more than €200bn of debt with private investors.

EU finance ministers rejected the offer from the Institute of International Finance (IIF) objecting to the coupon interest reported to be around 4.25% for the debt to be serviced up to 2020. German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble dismissed the IIF deal as haggling, saying: “You can see this in the bazaar any day”.