The Eurogroup has started actions to revive Greece’s bailout program as its new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, took office promising to end austerity measures. Finance ministers from the 19 euro zone countries signaled their willingness to do a deal with the new Greek PM as long as he dropped his demand for a debt write-down. Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said, “We stand ready to support them in that ambition.” Dijsselbloem and President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz will arrive in Athens to discuss with the new government; Dijsselbloem as representative of Greece’s 18 partners and Schulz on his own initiative. Dijsselbloem wants to see Greece’s intentions ahead of the Eurogroup on February 16. He will carry the message that the EU is willing to support Greece, but the country must respect its commitments. Greece has agreed to certain targets until 2022, regardless of who is in government. The two visits and further contacts in the next few weeks will show the new alliances that will be formed within the EU after the change of government in Greece, according to analysts. The new government can hope to have the support of France’s Francois Hollande and Italy’s Matteo Renzi, but will encounter obstacles from Spain and Portugal. France and Italy could use the Tsipras election as a means to change power balances. At the same time, the Spanish and Portuguese governments will have a hard time from their people if a leftist government in Greece has achieved more than they have. It should be noted that Spain and Portugal have upcoming elections in 2015.
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