Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has
said Greece is in the final, critical stretch of talks with its
international creditors and that he believes an interim deal will by in
place by 9 May.
The objective was to find an agreement this week or next week at the latest, he said in a marathon TV interview.
He defended Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who was sidelined from Greece's negotiating team on Monday.
But he admitted mistakes had been made in talks with EU partners.
Since
Greece's left-wing Syriza party came to power on 25 January, it has
sought to renegotiate the terms of the country's €240bn (£170bn; $260bn)
bailout from the IMF and EU.
But its negotiators have so far
failed to satisfy Greece's international creditors with the scope of
economic reforms required before the EU hands over the latest €7.2bn
tranche of the bailout, which the government needs to pay its bills.
Mr Varoufakis was left isolated at an EU finance ministers meeting in Latvia on Friday, skipping a state dinner and tweeting a line from late US President Franklin Roosevelt.
Describing Mr Varoufakis as an important asset for Greece, Mr Tsipras
argued that he had annoyed his European colleagues because he spoke
their language better than they did.
From now on, Greece's negotiations will be led by another economist in the government, Euclid Tsakalotos.
In his three-hour appearance on Greece's Star TV late on Monday
night, Mr Tsipras acknowledged there was a "negative atmosphere"
surrounding the talks but he suggested it was all a standard part of
negotiations.
He was also critical of the government's European
negotiating partners, accusing them of reneging on a verbal commitment
in February to allow Greek banks to finance the government.
"I
believe we are close. I believe that if no-one wants to undermine or
torpedo [the talks] we are close to an accepted package," the prime
minister said.
There would be concessions, he said, such as the part privatisation of Piraeus port and the leasing of 14 regional airports.
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