Varoufakis details his 5 ‘keys’ in negotiations with creditors

He called for ‘debt restructuring’, not a “haircut” — more of a ‘swap and exchange’

Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis on Monday pointed to the “five keys” in negotiations with institutional creditors, speaking amid an increasingly dire situation in Greek state finances and renewed recession.

— Debt: Restructuring, not a “haircut”, but what he called a “smart swap and exchange”

— Paying the bonds held by the ECB via the ESM, with the latter paid off in the future

— Investments: Exploiting state assets, not ‘fire sales’, as the self-described “erratic Marxist” called them

— “Bad (non-performing) loans: Creating a public management entity with the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund

— Combating poverty (in Greece): what he called the ‘sub-product’ of the ‘memorandum era’

— Joint conditions for concluding the current (bailout) program and what he called the “New Contract for Europe”.

Few details, however, were given on how much, and who will finance all the aforementioned proposals.

The outspoken Yanis followed PM Alexis Tsipras on the podium at an employers’ federation (SEV) general assembly, held at the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron).