EUROZONE-GREECE/SUMMIT END TSIPRAS Greek PM says secured debt restructuring to avoid "Grexit"

Record ID: 147244

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/SUMMIT END TSIPRAS Greek PM says secured debt restructuring to avoid "Grexit"
  • Date: 13th July 2015
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JULY 13, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING SIGN FOR EUROPEAN COUNCIL VARIOUS OF GREEK PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS WALKING TOWARDS JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) GREEK PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS SAYING: "We fought hard for six months, and until the end we battled to get an agreement to get the country back on its feet. We were fa
  • Embargoed: 28th July 2015 13:00
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  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8L9CDGP8H9HMRBX67JI0QLVUG
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greece has secured debt restructuring and medium-term financing in a growth package worth 35 billion euros in a deal with its creditors that will allow the country to stay in the euro, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in Brussels at the end of all-night talks on Monday (July 13).
    "We fought hard for six months, and until the end we battled to get an agreement to get the country back on its feet. We were faced with a very difficult decision within hard dilemmas. We took the responsibility to decide in order to avert the most extreme plans by conservative circles in the European Union," he said.
    Eurozone leaders clinched a deal with Greece to negotiate a third bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the eurozone after a whole night of haggling at an emergency summit.
    However, the terms imposed by international lenders led by Germany may put more pressure on Tsipras, fracture the government and cause an outcry in Greece.
    Tsipras said the implementation of the agreement will be difficult.
    "Today's agreement keeps Greece in a state of financial stability. It gives the possibilities for a recovery. It will, however, be an agreement whose implementation will be difficult. The measures included are the ones passed in parliament. The will unavoidably cause recessionary effects. I have the feeling, the confidence and the hope that the 35 billion euro development package which we managed, along with the debt restructuring and the secure financing for the next three years, will create the feeling among markets and investors that Grexit is a thing of the past," Tsipras added.
    EU officials said Tsipras finally accepted a compromise on German-led demands for the sequestration of Greek state assets worth 50 billion euros - including recapitalised banks - in a trust fund beyond government reach, to be sold off primarily to pay down debt. In a gesture to Greece, some 12.5 billion euros of the proceeds would go to investment in Greece, Merkel said.
    The Greek leader had to drop his resistance to a full role for the International Monetary Fund in a proposed 86 billion euro bailout, which Merkel has declared essential to win parliamentary backing in Berlin.
    In a sign of how hard it may be for Tsipras to convince his own Syriza party to accept the deal, Labour Minister Panos Skourletis said the terms were unviable and would lead to new elections this year.
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