The Greek Prime Minister expressed his optimism that Greece will finally strike a deal with the country’s European partners only a few hours ahead of the crucial Eurgroup meeting currently taking place in Brussels with the participation of the Eurozone’s 19 Finance Ministers. In an interview with Reuters, earlier today, Mr. Tsipras underlined he is “certain” that Athens will finally manage to secure the six-month extension requested for the loan agreement, despite Berlin’s initial objections and called for a “historic political decision” for all of Europe. “Greece has done everything possible so that we can arrive at a mutually beneficial solution, based on the principle of double respect: respect both to the principle of European Union rules and to the electoral result of member states,” the Greek Premier highlighted. Furthermore, he appeared assured that the Greek letter submitted yesterday by Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis for a six-month extension of the loan agreement with the conditionalities that accompany it will be accepted. “This is the moment for a historic political decision for the future of Europe,” he said. Tension between Athens and Brussels rose yesterday, after the first submitted request to secure funding and avoid bankruptcy after the bailout program expires on February 28. Berlin’s initial rejection, with the use of strong language, as it characterized the Greek proposal as a “Trojan horse,” was later dulled after a telephone conversation between the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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