Commissioner cheers shuffle of Greek negotiators

(PARIS) - EU Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici on Wednesday hailed the shake-up of the team handling Greece's fractious bailout negotiations with its creditors, but warned that reaching a deal soon was "urgent."

Moscovici applauded this week's move by Greece's hard-left Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to compose a less confrontational team to resume negotiations with EU-IMF creditors towards unblocking 7.2 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in remaining bailout money in exchange for Greek reforms.

"What's important is the prime minister, Mr. Tsipras, has taken negotiations back into his hands and is sending his own people to Brussels, people we can speak with," Moscovici said, referring to the re-shuffle that puts Dutch-born economics professor Euclid Tsakalotos as head negotiator.

Tsipras moved to ease the tensions caused by Greece's maverick Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis whose swaggering, abrasive style annoyed his eurozone peers.

"It's a team that strikes me as more coherent, as more prepared to engage in reforms," Moscovici told French TV news channel BFMTV and radio station RMC, warning so much time had been lost in earlier clashes with defiant Greek negotiators that it had now become "urgent" for the new group to reach a deal.

"I want results. I note that this negotiation, which is now under a more positive light, is still not finished."

Though Greece desperately needs the blocked bailout funds to finance day-to-day running of the country and honour a series of heavy loan repayments this summer, the anti-austerity government has resisted pressure to continue cost-cutting reforms in return for the cash.

Following a tense meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers in Riga last week, participants publicly vented irritation and anger at the inflexibility of Greek negotiators, with some blasting Varoufakis in particular.

In the wake of that acrimony, some analysts saw Greece's reshuffling of its negotiators as a bid to placate its EU-IMF creditors.

But others remain wary of possible manoeuvering by Athens to play the clock, and pressure its EU partners to accept a less rigid reform deal in order to avoid the potentially disastrous scenario of Greece defaulting and being forced out the euro in the absence of an accord.

Moscovici dismissed that so-called Grexit scenario as implausible because "the EU wants Greece to stay in the eurozone."

"There is no Plan B, (and) there is no alternative," he said