Tsipras off to Rome
February 3, 2015
Tsipras is due to meet Italian center-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome on Tuesday, as he continues a diplomatic offensive across Europe with finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Tsipras' far-left Syriza party swept to victory last week after campaigning to relax Greece's tough austerity measures, in what was a challenge to international bailout lenders.
His first overseas travels as leader, which took him on Monday to Cyprus, are central to his push for support on the debt situation - specifically negotiating new terms in Greece's 240-billion euro ($270 billion) bailout. After a restructuring in 2012, Greece still has debts of more than 315-billion euros, or 175 percent of gross domestic product.
Renzi is thought to be among those most sympathetic to the cause, after he reiterated on Monday his long-standing view that Europe must abandon austerity.
"I believe it is crucial to send a clear message: we want to move the discussion on economic policy from austerity and rigor towards growth and investment," Renzi told RTL Radio. "We have to change economic policy at the European level, not just for Greece or any other country."
It seems Tsipras' travels will not take him to Germany, with Europe's biggest economy standing firm on its position not to give Greece any more leeway. A spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that the German government saw "no cause to depart from this proven mechanism," referring to the so-called troika of lenders - the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank.
But Tsipras has said he and Varoufakis will no longer work with the troika, but instead wish to negotiate directly with creditors. On Monday night, Varoufakis held talks with private investors in London, reportedly to reassure bondholders.
jr/bk (Reuters, AFP)