Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in remarks published today he hoped key talks with international creditors would yield a "happy ending" in the standoff over the country's crippling debt crisis.
Athens is set to present a list of economic reform proposals to international creditors this week in a bid to unblock a new 7.2 billion euro (USD 7.8 billion) tranche of EU-IMF loans and avoid a debt default.
"I am confident there will be a happy ending soon to this first phase of the negotiations, and to normalising the situation," said Tsipras, whose anti-austerity Syriza party took power two months ago.
Tsipras' remarks came after Germany's Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann said Friday he opposed giving Greece any more emergency loans, accusing it of frittering away trust.
European paymaster Germany has been leading the push for austerity in Europe, with Greece complaining that the punishing budget cuts demanded were damaging its economy and threatening to force it out of the eurozone.
"There are powers (in Europe) which have specific interests and which want a rupture," Tsipras said in the interview published by weekly newspaper Realnews.
"But there are also powers -- which will prevail -- seeking a sincere and honest compromise," he added, appealing for a decision not to be made "by economists and technocrats alone".
"I can't believe democratic Europe would choose the path (of a Greek eurozone exit)," said Tsipras, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week.
