Yanis Varoufakis

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras received encouragement from his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi on Tuesday in Greece?s efforts to reach a new agreement with the eurozone but there are doubts about whether the European Central Bank will provide Athens with the liquidity it needs over the next few months.

Press reports on Tuesday fuelled speculation over an extraordinary Eurogroup meeting on Feb. 11 to focus entirely on the Greek issue.

A circulated “non paper” — by the government itself – in tandem with an official statement by government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis that a SYRIZA government will not “flip flop” on the debt issue attempted to allay scrutiny on Tuesday of an “about face” in terms of policy.

The “non paper” made the following points, in telegraph fashion:

The closely watched Renzi-Tsipras meeting in Rome produced several news-worthy quotes and statements on Tuesday.

The “Eternal City” was the second European capital, after Nicosia, that new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras chose to visit, with an eye towards gaining the support of Italian center-left PM Matteo Renzi.

Following Greek government's decision to abandon its request for a "haircut", the markets took a breather.

Also opens the way for meetings between the Greek Minister of Finance and the ECB President as well as with his German counterpart.

The decision led to a rally in the Greek stock market and crated declines in yields on Greek bonds.

Fresh talk of a third international bailout for debt-hit Greece spread through European capitals on Tuesday, despite Brussels insisting it was far too soon to start discussing any new rescue package.

 Varoufakis holds talks with Italian counterpart in Rome

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Tuesday he would meet his German counterpart Wolfgang Schauble in Berlin on Thursday for talks on his country?s debt crisis.

The minister announced the keenly-awaited encounter after meeting in Rome with his Italian counterpart.

Yanis Varoufakis appeared confident of finding a new middle ground for a deal with European partners and lenders after his meeting with the Italian FinMin. This meeting basically paved the way for a meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries.

By Arne Delfs

Germany expects talks with Greece to drag on until after the current round of bailout funding runs out at the end of the month and is prepared to play a waiting game until April or May, when the country approaches a cash crunch, a person familiar with the matter said.

Yanis Varoufakis seems to be the trending topic across the country after the recent elections. So much that a bar owner in Thessaloniki decided to name a cocktail drink after him!

According to sources, the cocktail is called “Varou-funky-s”, a play-on-words between his name and Funky. The cocktail includes mastic, orange liquor, lemon and pepper and they taste quite nice.