Greece said yesterday it was confident of reaching agreement in negotiations with its euro zone partners but reiterated it would not accept harsh austerity strings in any debt pact.

A day before a euro zone finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels to shore up Greece’s dwindling finances and help keep it in the euro zone, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told Germany’s Stern magazine Athens needed time to implement its reform programme and shake off the mismanagement of the past.

“I expect difficult negotiations; nevertheless I am full of confidence,” he said. “I promise you: Greece will then, in six months’ time, be a completely different country.”

The Eurogroup of finance ministers meets in Brussels today to try to find common ground with Tsipras’s new leftist government, elected on a pledge to scrap the austerity strictures of Greece’s international bailouts, on issues such as debt management, financing, privatisation and labour reform.

I promise you Greece will, in six months’ time, be a completely different country

If the meeting produces no results, there is a concern that Greece will be headed for a credit crunch that would force it out of the euro zone. Progress, however, could mean further negotiations, perhaps later in the week.

“The irresistible force will be meeting the immovable object,” Vasileios Gkionakis, head of global FX strategy at UniCredit, wrote in a note.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi refused to discuss the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone if an agreement with European Union/International Monetary Fund lenders fell apart as a result of Greece’s demands to alleviate its debt burden. He simply reiterated the euro zone’s founding position that membership is “irreversible”.

Greek national flags displayed for sale flutter during an anti-austerity pro-government demonstration in Athens yesterday. Photos: ReutersGreek national flags displayed for sale flutter during an anti-austerity pro-government demonstration in Athens yesterday. Photos: Reuters

Tsipras wants a bridge programme to be put in place for a few months while a new deal is agreed to replace the bailout, which has already forced drastic cutbacks on to ordinary Greeks.

The rest of the euro zone, particularly Germany, says Greece must continue with those commitments as a quid pro quo for the 280 billion euros it has received in bailouts.

Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazmir, whose country is said to be taking a tough line, tweeted that he was sceptical whether all details could be agreed on Monday.

Greece’s current bailout expires at the end of the month. A Eurogroup meeting last week ended without apparent progress although technical talks were later approved.

Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis showed no sign that Greece was easing back on its core demand.

“The Greek government is determined to stick to its commitment towards the public ... and not continue a programme that has the characteristics of the previous bailout agreement,” he told Greece’s Skai television.

“What we have agreed on is that there is a need for a national reform plan, which European partners are listening closely to, and positively to tackle steady problems in Greece’s economy and society that date back decades.”

Some of the problems facing the Eurogroup are semantic. The Greeks, for example, will not countenance anything that smacks of an “extension” to the old bailout, preferring something new called a “bridge” agreement.

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