Bond sale 'most important message' on road to exiting bailouts, Tsipras says

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hailed Greece's bond sale on Tuesday, the first in three years, as a landmark on its way to exiting the crisis and its international bailouts on Tuesday.

The bond issue, which raised 3 billion euros, is "the most important message and the most significant step in order to finish this unpleasant adventure of the memorandum," he said in comments ahead of talks with visiting European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. "Investors have welcomed the Greek bonds," Tsipras said. "Now it is time to discuss the future of Greece, how we will cooperate in order to work in the next year to conclude successfully the program and try to plan for next day," he said, speaking in English.

"Returning to the markets is an important first step," Moscovici said, declaring that "confidence in Greece is really coming back." He compared...