The meeting between the Minister of Finances Yanis Varoufakis with the chief of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi was “fruitful”, according to the Greek side. The Greek minister explained that talks with creditors could conclude quickly.
Mr. Varoufakis told journalists that “the ECB is the central bank of Greece […] The ECB will do whatever it takes to support the member states in the euro zone” and added that “I have no doubt that we can conclude our discussions with our European partners, as well as with the IMF and the ECB, in a very short space of time so that we can kick-start the Greek economy”.
The Minister visited Frankfurt on Wednesday morning to meet with Mario Draghi in order to present the new Greek government’s plans. On Thursday Mr. Varoufakis will travel to Berlin, where he will meet his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble.
Mr. Varoufakis traveled to Frankfurt in order to present the Greek government’s proposals for reducing the Greek public debt to ECB officials. The Greek minister revealed his plans on Monday, which do not technically include a nominal debt write off. Although there has been support for this program, the Financial Times report that the ECB is unlikely to approve the plans, such as swapping 27 billion euros worth of ECB bonds with a new perpetual bond.
With Greek facing the prospect of liquidity shortage in the next few weeks, it has been rumored that an emergency Eurogroup meeting may be scheduled for the 11th of February, on the even of the scheduled Summit, in order to discuss Mr. Varoufakis’ plans. EU officials seem concerned over legal problems and practical difficulties in its implementation.
On Tuesday Mr. Varoufakis met with his Italian counterpart Pier Carlo Padoan, who commented that he was convinced that solutions for Greece could be found that will benefit the whole of the European Union. Mr. Varoufakis stressed that if Greece is given the necessary time to prepare a program by June, then funds would soon return to Greece.
