ATHENS: Fresh tensions emerged on Thursday between Greece and Germany as attention turned to Athens’s huge debt pile two days after the stricken eurozone country secured an extension of its bailout.

Greece, whose economy has shrunk by a quarter in six years, owes 320 billion euros ($365bn), equal to 175 per cent of its annual economic output.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who swept to power last month on a wave of anger at years of austerity cuts, wants to use a four-month bailout extension secured on Tuesday to renegotiate this debt mountain.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, the frank-talking economics professor hired by Tsipras to reach a better deal with Greece’s creditors, called Wednesday to “begin immediately” a discussion on this.

But with Greece having already secured a 100bn-euro write-down of its debt to private creditors and two bailouts of 240bn euros, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble expressed Thursday his “disbelief” at any such suggestion.

“I can’t see anything in what Varoufakis is doing that makes life easier for us,” the veteran German minister was quoted as telling a parliamentary group meeting.

“No more billions for the greedy Greeks!” screamed mass daily Bild on Thursday under a huge “Nein!” (No!) headline.

The extension to Greece’s lifeline still needs approval from the German parliament and possibly Greece’s, but this should be a formality despite unease among some lawmakers in both countries.

To secure the lifeline, Tsipras’s new hard-left government published a six-page list of proposed reforms focused on boosting tax receipts and cutting spending through improved efficiencies.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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