“I’d let the (Institutions’) technical teams on the Acropolis if I thought it would work,” was how Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis put after a mostly … fruitless Eurogroup meeting on Friday in Riga – as far as the “Greek Issue” is concerned.

“We want an agreement, we’re ready to make compromises,” Yanis reiterated, before adding: “We want a consensual agreement; an agreement that I can take to Parliament and defend, saying ‘this is the new growth model for Greece’,” was his statement to reporters.

The high-profile Greek minister, who’s achieved a “celebrity status” amidst the staid group of European ministers but little else so far, complained that Euro zone partners want the Greek government to cut 90 percent of paid-out supplementary pensions. He warned that this was a “red line” for his leftist government, “something that is unthinkable for us”.

He also said demands for dropping legal protection of debtors’ primary residence won’t bring desired results.

Conversely, he referred to signs of convergence as far as labour relations and privatizations are concerns, another two obstacles to a deal giving cash-strapped Athens bailout financing.

Nevertheless, he predicted that a solution will be found after all. “It’s not something easy, but it will be found, because the cost of no solution will be huge, for all.”

Spiegel: Varoufakis in his own… world

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel piled on the abuse against Yanis the same day, claiming he was the only one – amongst the finance ministers, presumably – that didn’t understand what had transpired at Friday’s informal Eurogroup in Riga.
Spiegel wrote that Varoufakis appeared cocooned in his “own world”, believeing that an agreement is possible within the framework set by the Greek side.

Varoufakis, if Spiegel’s story is accurate, was told in no uncertain terms by his colleagues that there will be no “partial” agreement or fractional tranches of a bailout loan unless the current bailout program is accessed by the “troika” – Spiegel’s term.

Govt sources

Government sources, later in the afternoon and from Athens, expressed a view that participants at the informal Eurogroup session on Friday tried to “overturn” the “positive climate” ascertained in Greek PM Alexis Tsipras private and separate meetings a day earlier in Brussels with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande.

The “main view” from within the government is that pressure will only increase on the leftist government ahead of a pending deal.