Greek government-debt crisis

The European Central Bank turned up the pressure on the government on Wednesday by lifting a waiver on Greek government bonds, which means that they can no longer be used by local lenders as collateral to borrow from Frankfurt.

The SYRIZA-led coalition will not nominate its candidate for president of the republic on Thursday, as had been expected, but will wait until next week, with the first round of voting on who will replace the current head of state, Karolos Papoulias, due to take place on February 13.

"The German government has formally entered negotiations," was Athens' laconic response on Wednesday afternoon following the publication - by Reuters - of a confidential German government report towards the Euro Working Group, reportedly requesting that the current Greek bailout program continue.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she saw no substantial differences in the positions of major EU powers on Greece, which is campaigning to renegotiate the terms of its bailout programme.

?I don't think that the positions of the member states of the eurozone with regard to Greece differ, at least in terms of substance,? Merkel said.

His hectic schedule of meetings and visits to Paris, London, Rome, Frankfurt and Berlin may have kept the prolific social media-using Greek FinMin off the TL for a few days, however, on Wednesday afternoon Yanis Varoufakis squeezed in a tweet.

Greece's new government remains committed to its NATO role despite close ties with Russia that have worried its allies, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told AFP on Wednesday.

Greek judges are sending 72 members of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn including its leaders to trial for crimes including murder, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

?Seventy-two people, including party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and all of Golden Dawn's lawmakers in the previous parliament will be tried,? the source said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called on France on Wednesday to play a key role in helping Europe return to growth, following a meeting with President Francois Hollande in Paris.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was upbeat Wednesday that his country can find a way to ease its bailout loans after talks with the main European Union agency supervising its finances.
     

Greece's finance minister met a senior International Monetary Fund official in Paris over the weekend, the new Greek government said on Wednesday, its first meeting with one of the country's major creditors since taking power last month.