EU to try hard to avoid Greek pullout: Analyst
Press TV has conducted an interview with Paolo Raffone, the secretary general of the CIPI Foundation in Brussels, about Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressing hope that his cash-strapped country will reach an agreement with the international creditors over its bailout program.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How do you feel about the Greek prime minister’s optimism? Is it misplaced?
Raffone: Well, to a certain extent yes; but it is also necessary on the political ground. So, it is clear that the situation that we are seeing is still that of a confrontation between the request from Greece, which is that of understanding a new approach to the public debt, and the request from Brussels, the commission that says, ‘Well we need a clear agenda for the reforms before discussing how to restructure your debt.’
So, basically it is an obliged optimism on both sides, but probably the Wall Street Journal has been the one that has cleared up this situation, describing it as in fact still a negotiation in which the solution of the crisis is still further ahead in the road.
Press TV: I imagine, for the European Union, Mr. Raffone, the worst-case scenario is for Greece to leave the euro currency. How hard would they work to prevent that, do you think?
Raffone: It is not convenient to the European Union because this would set the case for other countries maybe to follow. So certainly, they will try to avoid this in all possible ways.
On the other hand, Greece does not want to give up its pride so, as we know, the Tsipras government came also to re-establish a certain dignity of the country, and this is the reason why they do not want to find a compromise at [any] price.
So negotiations are there, the solutions technically are there, too. It is just a problem of how do they adjust politically either way they want to take, both in Brussels and in Greece.
AHK/HJL
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