The Minister of Finances Yanis Varoufakis is currently in Berlin, where he is scheduled to meet with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble, where he will explain to hm the recently-elected government’s plans regarding debt.
Watch the press conference live (12:30 CET)
Despite the condemnation of the Greek plans by a section of the media, Mr. Schäuble is said to be prepared to hear out Mr. Varoufakis’ proposals. A German government source told To Vima that they are certain in Berlin that Mr. Varoufakis is «neither improvising, nor walking on a tightrope, but he has a structured program of proposal, for which we have not yet been fully informed”.
The same source notes that Mr. Schäuble will support any reforms intended to improve administration, combat tax evasion and corruption, however Germany is prepared to accept any deviations from existing agreements. The source explained this involves obligations such as privatizations, dismissals from the public sector and paying off the debt.
Even the replacement of the troika, as proposed earlier, is non-negotiable, as the German government spokesman Steffen Seibert stressed at recent government briefing that Germany will insist upon the troika because it has been “successful”. The German Finance Ministry’s spokesman outright rejected the Greek proposals for a debt write off at the same briefing.
Following the publication of a secret German document, which was leaked to Reuters late on Wednesday, Mr. Varoufakis’ mission may become more difficult on Thursday. It has been argued that the leak was intentional, in order to torpedo the scheduled talks between the two Finance Ministers of Thursday. The German government source speaking to To Vima denied this scenario and claimed the leak likely occurred in Brussels.
