Over in Greece, as long-stalled bailout negotiations finally resume, prime minister Alexis Tsipras has been causing ripples warning that while parliament may legislate creditor-demanded reforms, the painful measures may never be implemented if the country isn’t given debt relief. From Athens our correspondent Helena Smith reports:With the timing of a maestro, Greece’s leftist leader used the first day of reactivated bailout talks to deliver a stern message: without promised debt relief the pension cuts and tax hikes Athens has now agreed to as part of a bigger package to unlock further emergency loans will never be enforced. In a live TV interview aired late Tuesday, Tsipras said it was Greece’s right as “as sovereign government” to reverse the measures (the equivalent of 2 % of GDP and due to be enacted as of 1.1.2019) if lenders didn’t also honour pledges to offer medium-term debt relief that would allow the economy to breathe. “They will not be implemented if we do not have a solution to the debt,” he told ANT 1 TV. While the controversial cuts worth €3.6bn would be approved by parliament in the coming weeks, Tsipras insisted it was within Greece’s sovereign right “to take back something that had been voted if the agreement wasn’t upheld.”

Source: The Guardian April 26, 2017 07:18 UTC