Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis gave the message that Greece is ready to make some difficult decisions in order to clinch a deal with the country’s creditors. During talks in Washington D.C. on Thursday he made it clear that he wants to avoid a clash with the eurozone at all costs.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Varoufakis said that Greece is dedicated to finding “an honorable agreement with its partners”. On their part, the partners should acknowledge that the fiscal program imposed on Greece has so far been a failure with the debt being unsustainable since 2010.

He spoke of a “badly designed” reform program that had been “administered by those who had to reform and refused to be reformed.” He clarified that the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government was keen to bring reforms to a conclusion but without extending the memorandum it inherited that had led to massive internal devaluation.

Varoufakis expressed the government’s intent to start reforms with privatizations and pensions before proceeding to other chronic problems such as procurements, bureaucracy and the relationship between the state with the oligarchy and media.

He pointed out that Greece was “never really bailed out” because only 9% of the very large loans went to the state with the rest being used to boost irresponsible  financial institutions, mainly those in northern Europe.