During a press conference immediately following Friday’s Eurogroup meeting, Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis appeared optimistic and made the following statements:

– Negotiation aims to reach an agreement, that means being prepared for both mutual compromise but also for possible rifts.

– Despite facing pressing deadlines, we proved that not only can we negotiate with our partners but we can also have positive results out of this process, Varoufakis said.

– He said the agreement is a small step, but a step in a right direction.

– “Greece leaves the Memorandum behind,” he claimed, stressing that the weekend is … “full of joy and creativity”.

– The government managed to prevent new austerity measures, and avoided committing to an annual primary budget surplus goal of 3% this year, which he said would be a “stranglehold”.

– Among others, the Greek minister stressed that “we never called a bluff, we are finally out of the path of isolation”.

-It took 3 Eurogroup meetings to finally turn page, however said the Greek Minister of Finance, if reforms don’t get accepted it will be a dead deal

On journalists question about “Red loans”, Mr. Varoufakis relied that the government will address the issue immediately including the debts payable to the State issue.

“We will not wait for the end of the four month extension. We will deal with both issues in such a way that will not have an impact on financial stability”, said Mr. Varoufakis and noted that he would eliminate ENFIA,” because it is an unjust tax”.

In conclusion, the Greek Minister of Finance stressed that we will use the next four months to build a new relationship with the EU and IMF, while he added that “our aim is to discuss a smart debt restructuring with our partners and the IMF.”