Greek government-debt crisis

By Deepa Babington & Angeliki Koutantou

A prominent Greek minister defied his government?s pledge to press on with some state asset sales, revealing the first open dissent within Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras?s coalition and highlighting the tightrope that the leftist premier must walk.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday welcomed as a "starting point" reform pledges made by Greece in return for a four-month extension to its bailout program.

"This is good news considering what was being said only weeks ago," Merkel said, adding however that "much work lies ahead" in talks between Athens and its international creditors.

Independent Greeks, the country's junior coalition partner, will submit a request for a parliamentary probe into the events that forced Greece to sign the first bailout agreement.

The decision was announced by Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos following a meeting of the right-wing anti-bailout party's MPs on Wednesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble are rallying reluctant German lawmakers to approve an extension of Greece's bailout despite Schaeuble's avowed doubts about the credibility of Athens' latest reform plans.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday urged the left party's lawmakers to back the Greek list of reform proposals that was sent to creditors earlier in the week.

Tsipras made the call during a briefing on the pledges his government has made to European creditors in order to win a four-month extension to the country's international bailout.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke before his party’s parliamentary group and proceeded with a complete retelling of everything the government has done from the day it was elected, until the deal with the Eurogroup.

According to government sources, the PM spoke of the difficult negotiations and underlined “the government’s achievements so far”, as such:

Greece will not go ahead with privatizing its dominant electricity utility PPC or power grid operator ADMIE, Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said, despite promising its creditors not to halt sales that are underway.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis stated in an interview for the French magazine Charlie Hebdo that Europe can only benefit from the policies implemented by progressive governments like the one of SYRIZA.

Greece will not cancel privatizations that have already been done but the law allows the government to change the terms of sales that are underway and examine their legality, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Wednesday.

Greece will be able to borrow from the financial markets once it achieves a debt restructuring, investment and sustained primary budget surpluses, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Wednesday.

"For one to be able to return to the markets for borrowing you need to meet three criteria: primary surpluses, restructuring of debt and investments," he told Real FM radio.