Ministry of Finance

Alternate Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos expressed on Wednesday his optimism with regard to the progress of the talks between Greece and its International creditors.

“We can be fairly optimistic. As you can understand, there is always anxiety, pressure and red lines until the last minute,” Tsakalotos said in an interview with Real FM.

Greek government races to “seal” the list of reforms and present it to partner’s economic team.

Brussels Group is the one to give the “green light”   for the list to be submitted to EuroWorking Group and later to Eurogroup which will give the final approval for probably part of the 7.2 billion euro dose.

Alternate Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Friday made waves by saying that the Greek government was "always prepared for a rift."

Tsakalotos, who is the ministry's key official for international economic relations, made the comment during an interview on Star television channel, prompting a flurry of reactions and criticism on social media.

Greece's outspoken Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is not planning to resign, two Greek government officials said on Friday, denying a report in Germany's Bild newspaper.

"None of this is true, it's far from reality," one of the officials told Reuters.

The Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government on Thursday said it would submit an elaborate national reform plan to Eurogroup as time is running out. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis' colleagues said that the Greek side would present its reforms to the three institutions of international creditors in a teleconference call on Monday.

Conservative opposition leader Antonis Samaras has accused Greece's SYRIZA-led government of misleading the country's voters over the agreement signed at the February 20 Eurogroup meeting in Brussels.

Former Greek Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou has been handed a one-year suspended sentence after a court found him guilty of helping three people dodge millions in tax.

One of Greece's previous legislatures was offered by IMF head Christine Lagarde a list of Greek citizens holding offshore accounts, in a move to fight tax evasion - the so-called "Lagarde list".

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has canceled a planned trip to London on Tuesday, the Greek Embassy said on Monday.

Varoufakis was due to talk at a conference in London and attend another couple of events but has called the trip off as crucial talks between Greece and its eurozone partners over the country?s need for financial support heat up.

[Reuters]

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has put his luxury holiday home in the island of Aegina for 5,000 euros a week, according to an article published on the online edition of Daily Mail newspaper.

Theodoros Mitrakos is to be sworn in as the new Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece on Monday.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held before the President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos at 11.30 and it will be attended by Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, BoG Governor Yiannis Stournaras and the Bishop of Thermopylae Ioannis.