EUROZONE-GREECE/SAPIN UPDATE France's Sapin: we wait and see what Athens proposes

Record ID: 148304

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/SAPIN UPDATE France's Sapin: we wait and see what Athens proposes
  • Date: 6th July 2015
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (JULY 6, 2015) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4PS0J9HFADPNS0QGJVIYWNQ2M
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Monday (July 6) it was too early to draw any conclusions about the proposals the Greek government will make in renewed negotiations with international creditors.
    "We're seeing each other tomorrow for the Eurogroup. It's essential. Because it's the place where, naturally, we hope that the Greek finance minister, the new finance minister, will give us proposals. You ask us what proposals -- but you shouldn't ask us the question, you should ask the Greeks, which is incidentally, the question we have been asking Greece since this morning -- with absolute respect for the referendum results, which conveyed a state of mind, but a state of mind is not proposals. We need accurate proposals and we are waiting for them," Sapin said in Warsaw after a meeting with his Polish and German counterparts.
    "The best response to this difficulty is to keep working on the topics, topics we are used to, so we can move forward and to give responses back to our people," he added.
    Greece's combative finance minister resigned on Monday, removing one major obstacle to any deal to keep Athens in the euro zone after Greeks voted resoundingly to back the government in rejecting the austerity terms of a bailout.
    Gloomy officials in Brussels and Berlin said a Greek exit from the currency area now looked ever more likely.
    But they also said talks to avert it would be easier without Yanis Varoufakis, an avowed "erratic Marxist" economist who infuriated fellow euro zone finance ministers with his casual style and indignant lectures. He had campaigned for Sunday's 'No' vote, accusing Greece' creditors of "terrorism".
    His sacrifice suggested Tsipras was determined to try to reach a last-ditch compromise with European leaders.
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