Tsipras strikes more moderate tone ahead of Brussels visit

Suzanne Lynch and Mark Hennessy

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras travels to Brussels tomorrow for meetings with the head of the European Commission and European Council, as representatives of the Greek government continued their tour of European capitals yesterday in a bid to rally support for debt renegotiation.

Speaking in Cyprus yesterday – his first overseas visit as prime minister – Mr Tsipras appeared to strike a conciliatory note in what seemed like an escalating stand-off with Brussels, emphasising that Greece had obligations to its lender.

"We are in substantial negotiations with our partners in Europe and those that have lent to us. We have obligations towards them,"Mr Tsipras said. He also ruled out seeking any aid from Russia. "Right now, there are no other thoughts on the table," Mr Tsipras said when asked about a possible financial package from Moscow.

The new Greek government unnerved European partners last week by initially opposing the extension of Russian sanctions due to escalating violence in Ukraine.

Following talks with Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis in London yesterday, British chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne warned that the looming crisis in the relationship between Greece and the rest of the euro zone is the single "greatest risk" to the world's economy.

Mr Osborne is understood to have told his guest during a morning meeting at No 11 Downing Street that London will not be “sympathetic” to Athens’s demands for a debt write-off.

“We had a constructive discussion, and it is clear that the stand-off between Greece and the euro zone is the greatest risk to the global economy. I urge the Greek finance minister to act responsibly,” he said later, in brief words to Reuters.

“But it’s also important that the euro zone has a better plan for jobs and growth. It is a rising threat to the British economy. And we have got to make sure that in Europe as in Britain, we choose competence over chaos,” he added.

Last night, Mr Varoufakis, who arrived at Downing Street without a tie and wearing a wax jacket, met with leading financiers in the City of London – though the encounter was described as a "meet and greet", rather than anything more substantial.

Meanwhile officials in Brussels declined to comment on speculation that Greece’s EU lenders could be considering formulating a new political agreement that would replace the troika arrangement. “We do not envisage any new structure, we don’t have any new formula as such,” a European Commission spokesman said. However, he highlighted comments made by Jean-Claude Juncker during his election bid for European Commission president: “In the future we should be able to replace the troika with a more democratic legitimate and more accountable structure based around European institutions with enhanced parliamentary control, both at European and national level.”

“These are the parameters within which the president will be tackling the issue,” the spokesman said.

European Commission officials also confirmed that EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici met Mr Varoufakis when he was in Paris for talks with French finance minister Michel Sapin on Sunday. The meeting was an "initial and constructive exchange of opinions" which lasted about an hour, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Spanish budget minister Cristobal Montoro told Spanish public television yesterday that Europe would not "change the rules" for Greece.

“We would all like to govern that way. But the question is, where will this money come from? From Greeks? From other Europeans? Who will be providing this money? That is the question,” he said.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble told a Reuters summit that Germany would not accept any unilateral changes to Greece's debt programme. "We want Greece to continue going down this successful path in the interests of Greece and the Greeks but we will not accept one-sided changes to the programme," he said .

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