Greece's Tsipras says optimistic for 'viable' solution with EU
Tsípras - Juncker - Photo EC
(BRUSSELS) - Greece's radical new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said during a visit to Brussels on Wednesday that he was hopeful of finding a solution to the debt standoff between Athens and the EU.
Tsipras took his new leftist government's case to European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, EU president Donald Tusk and European Parliament head Martin Schulz.
"I am very optimist(ic) that we will try to do our best in order to find a common, viable and mutually acceptable solution for our common future," Tsipras said in a brief statement alongside Schulz.
Tsipras then left for Paris on the latest leg of a swing through Europe aimed at renegotiating Athens' huge international bailout, an issue that has revived fears of a Greek exit from the euro.
The Greek premier, whose leftist Syriza party stormed to victory in elections on January 25, tried to reassure his European partners that he was not trying to break the 28-nation bloc's rules.
"We want to recorrect this framework, not to smash this framework," he said.
"And we believe in this framework we could find a common viable solution for our peoples."
Schulz said the talks were "fruitful" but warned of a "difficult time ahead".
Tsipras' visit to Brussels came as his Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was in Frankfurt for talks with European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, which Varoufakis also described as "fruitful".
The EU's Tusk meanwhile acknowledged that resolving the showdown over Greece's debt was likely to be "difficult" and would need "cooperation and dialogue as well as determined efforts by Greece."
The former Polish premier added that his talks with Tsipras were "open and frank on a number of issues of common concern" and underlined the "importance of unity" on other key issues facing the EU.
It was an apparent reference to concerns that the new Greek government could seek to water down sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.