Greece and its creditors are close to reaching an outline deal this week on the debt-laden country’s 86bn rescue programme, amid signs of growing German isolation over its tough stance towards Athens.
负债累累的希腊与债权人接近在本周就860亿欧元纾困计划达成框架性协议,迹象显示德国正因其对希腊的强硬立场而日益孤立。
Significant concessions by Alexis Tsipras and his negotiators in the past month have encouraged other hawkish eurozone members such as Finland to break with Berlin, which wants to hold out longer to squeeze more reforms from Athens.
过去一个月期间,亚历克西斯倠溟拉斯(Alexis Tsipras)及其谈判代表作出的重大让步,鼓励了芬兰等其他鹰派欧元区成员国与德国分道扬镳,后者希望拖延更长时间,迫使希腊承诺更多改革措施。
Even previously sceptical EU diplomats now say that a full agreement could be reached by the August 20 deadline, when Athens must make a 3.2bn debt repayment to the European Central Bank.
就连之前持怀疑态度的欧盟(EU)外交官如今也表示,在8月20日希腊必须向欧洲央行(ECB)偿还32亿欧元债务的最后期限前,有望达成一项全面协议。
The cautious optimism contrasts sharply with the acrimony at last month’s eurozone summit, which came close to ushering Greece out of the currency bloc before agreeing to negotiate a deal. The main elements of the proposed deal include spending cuts, administrative reform and privatisations. Remaining sticking points between Athens and its creditors include details of a 50bn privatisation plan and proposals for raising the planned budget surplus, excluding debt interest, to 3.5 per cent in 2018 from zero this year.
这种谨慎乐观与上月欧元区峰会的尖锐对立形成鲜明对比。在那次会议上,希腊差点被请出欧元区,最终各方才同意谈判达成协议。拟议协议的主要内容包括削减支出、推行行政改革以及私有化。希腊与债权人之间剩下的症结包括500亿欧元的私有化计划的具体细节,以及在2018年将计划预算盈余(不包括债务利息)从今年的0提高至3.5%的建议。
Officials in Brussels said an early deal was “ambitious but feasible”. But they emphasised that while this was the “preferable” way forward, the option of a 5bn bridging loan to give negotiators more time, championed by Berlin, was still on the table.
布鲁塞尔的官员称,达成初步协议的想法“雄心勃勃,但可行”。但他们强调称,尽管这是“最好”的出路,但是德国所主张的提供50亿欧元过渡性贷款、以便让谈判代表们拥有更多时间的方案,仍是谈判桌上的一个选项。