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> Economy

A bridge too far? Euro-group head dismissive of Athens' short-term plan

"We don’t do bridging loans,” were his exact words" were Dijssenbloem's exact words

Newsroom February 6 05:55

Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijssenbloem on Friday again dampened the new Greek government’s desire for a short-term economic deal — dubbed the “bridge” — until early June in order to present its proposals replacing a bailout package that concludes this month.

“We don’t do bridging loans,” were his exact words to reporters in The Hague, when asked about the Greek government’s main request.

Athens’ leftist SYRIZA government wants greater leeway to increase state spending, raise the private sector minimum wage and pensions on the low end, as well as to reverse labor sector liberalization and overturn, or block, certain privatizations. Those pledges formed the basis, in fact, of much of the party’s pre-election platform.

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The “bridge” financing scheme was a repeated theme in Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis’ contacts with European leaders this week.

Post-election, however, the Dutch politician, who chairs the bloc’s grouping of finance ministers, said other eurozone governments won’t give Athens the “green light”.

Varoufakis has previously said his anti-bailout government won’t accept a 7-billion euros tranche of an upcoming instalment, leaving Greece — at present, at least –without a backup financing scheme come March 1.

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