Advertisement

  1. National

Greece wants 'fair solution' to debt offer stalemate

Greece wants to find a "viable and fair solution" with its EU and IMF lenders to agree an aid package, a government official has said.

On Friday, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras labelled a cash for reforms offer by the debts-seeking EU as "absurd".

Earlier, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said a Greek exit from the single currency area is not an option but that does not me he could "pull a rabbit out of a hat" to prevent it.

View all 15 updates ›

Greece 'doesn't believe' nation will exit euro zone

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has said that Greece does not believe its European partners will ultimately let the country leave the euro zone. As the country races to agree a cash-for-reforms deal with its creditors, Athens is trying to clinch a deal before an end-June deadline to release the final tranche of a 240 billion euro bailout and avert the risk of the country crashing out of the euro zone.

Greece 'doesn't believe' will nation will exit euro zone. Credit: PA

"I don't believe that any sensible European bureaucrat or politician will go down that road," he told Radio Four's Today programme.

Asked whether the European Union and the International Monetary Fund were bluffing Varoufakis said: "I hope they are."

Asked whether it was possible that Greece could leave the single currency, Varoufakis told the BBC he did not think any European official wanted to see that outcome.

  1. Read more
  2. 15 updates
Greece wants 'fair solution' to debt offer stalemate

More on this story