‘Greek debt deal not far’

ATHENS: A deal on debt relief for Greece is “not far,” France’s new Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday ahead of crunch euro zone talks on the issue on Thursday.

“I am optimistic that we will have a good solution. We are not far from agreement,” Le Maire said ahead of a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“We are really doing our best to find an agreement,” he had said earlier after seeing his Greek counterpart Euclid Tsakalotos.

“It is difficult. It is complicated,” he said.

At the June 15 meeting, Le Maire said he planned to propose a “mechanism” of “flexibility” to lessen Greek debt repayment based on its economic growth.

“It is a mechanism which should allow us to revise certain (debt) parameters based on Greek growth,” he told reporters.

The issue of debt relief for Greece has sharply divided its international creditors, the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for months in the latest round of talks.

The impasse has held up a tranche of bailout cash, which Greece needs to repay loans in July and Athens says its fragile recovery has also been impaired.

Tsipras has said he will ask EU leaders to resolve the issue at the end of June if no solution is forthcoming on Thursday. “Piling drama on the problem helps no one,” he said on Monday.