Gov't shifts focus to Macron visit and TIF

The government is gearing up for a return to work next week with preparations for two key events at the top of the agenda: a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron scheduled for September 7 and 8 and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) a few days after that. According to sources, Tsipras's first meetings are due on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For the first time in more than two years, the focus of those meetings will not be economic reforms being demanded by creditors but attempts to shape a new narrative of opening the country up to investment.

A scheduled visit by Macron to Athens in the first week of September, which was confirmed by his office on Thursday, is expected to bolster that narrative as the French president and his administration have supported Greek calls for debt relief and the easing of austerity...