Greece turns a page, crisis is over

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday said the country was “turning a page” after Eurozone ministers declared its crisis over as they granted Athens debt relief under a bailout exit strategy.

The Eurozone ministers’ agreement comes nearly a decade after Athens finances spun out of control, sparking three bailouts and threatening the country’s euro membership. “Yesterday (on Thursday) we reached a historic agreement on Greece’s debt with the Eurogroup,” Tsipras told the country’s president, Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

“We are turning a page,” he said, adding that Greece had to remain on the path of reform. Following the Eurozone ministers’ hardfought agreement declared earlier Friday, Greece is slated to leave its third financial rescue since 2010 on August 20.

“The Greek crisis ends here tonight,” said EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, after marathon talks in Luxembourg.

The deal was expected to be an easy one, but last-minute resistance by Germany — Greece’s long bailout nemesis and biggest creditor— dragged the talks on for six hours.

The ministers agreed to extend maturities by 10 years on major parts of its total debt obligations, a mountain that has reached close to double the country’s annual economic output.

They also agreed to disburse ^15 billion ($17.5 billion) to ease Greece’s exit from the rescue programme. This would leave Greece with a hefty ^24 billion safety cushion, officials said.

PHOTO: REUTERS Greek PM Alexis Tsipras finally puts on a tie — a gesture he had pledged if and when Europe came up with a viable solution to the country’s debt burden. In February 2015, just days after the left-leaning firebrand swept to power pledging to tear up the...