Greece sought to repair relations with its international creditors today as the new anti-austerity government began a charm offensive in European capitals, even as Germany insisted it would not support any debt relief.
Just hours before Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis headed to Paris to seek support for a renegotiation of Greece's 240-billion-euro (USD 270 billion) bailout, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he believed a deal could be reached with the EU and IMF.
"No side is seeking conflict and it has never been our intention to act unilaterally on Greek debt," Tsipras said in a statement issued to the Bloomberg news agency.
In its first meeting with creditors since it took office, the Greek government clashed with the head of the eurozone finance ministers yesterday over its plans to rethink its rescue package and to halve Greece's debt.
Tsipras, who will visit Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and French President Francois Hollande next week, said his plans did not mean Greece would renege on its commitments to the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
"On the contrary, it means that we need time to breathe and create our own medium-term recovery programme," he said.
This includes aiming to balance the budget -- excluding debt repayments -- and clamping down on tax evasion, corruption and policies which favour only a wealthy few, he said.
"I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole," the prime minister said.
The stunning success of Tsipras' hard left Syriza party in last Sunday's polls sent shockwaves through the continent and gave encouragement to other anti-austerity parties.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid today in support of the Spanish party Podemos, which has been surging in polls ahead of elections later this year.
Varoufakis was to leave for Paris ast night, with talks scheduled with French Finance Minister Michel Sapin and Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron tomorrow, before heading to London and Rome.
Neither he nor Tsipras are intending to visit Germany, which has shouldered the bulk of Greece's loans and which strongly objects to Athens' stated plans.
Merkel today ruled out fresh debt relief, telling the Hamburger Abendblatt daily: "There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt.
