NEWS

Tsipras underlines political will, Juncker expresses dissatisfaction over delays

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras indicated on Friday that there was political will for a solution to any differences between Greece and its creditors as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressed concern about the delay in Greece’s enforcement of economic reforms agreed with the country’s lenders.

“I am not satisfied by the developments in the recent weeks. I don’t think we have made sufficient progress, but we will try to push in the direction of a successful conclusion of the issues we have to deal with,” Juncker said on Friday after talks in Brussels with Tsipras.

Juncker added that the EC was always willing to offer support and that he would make “proposals” but was not the key player in negotiations. With intensive work over the coming weeks, differences can be bridged, he said. He stressed that he was “totally excluding a failure.” “I don’t want a failure. I would like Europeans to go together. This is not a time for division. This is the time for coming together.”

Tsipras, for his part, looked toward an “honest compromise,” underlined the problems Greece still faces including high unemployment and said insisted that Athens was playing its part in efforts to enforce a deal. “Because we are pro-European and we want to go on together in a common future, I believe that in the end of the day we will solve all these misunderstandings and we will go on with this honest compromise that we did on the 20th February,” he said.

Earlier, speaking to reporters after talks with European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Tsipras said that Greece has already started fulfilling commitments made at the February Eurogroup. “We are doing our part and we expect our partners to do their own,” he said.

He added that he was confidence Greece and its creditors would reach a solution “because I strongly believe that this is our common interest.” “I believe that there is no Greek problem, there is a European problem,” he said.

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