Greece seeks immediate talks on debt restructuring after Eurogroup deal: FinMin

Greece seeks to start immediately negotiations with international lenders on the Greek debt restructuring, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told local media in Athens on Wednesday.

"And I am not talking about an extension, but debt swap," he told Real fm radio, while commenting on the latest Eurogroup deal for a four-month bridge deal between the four-year bailout program and a final solution to the Greek debt crisis.

In order to make the Greek debt load sustainable and shrink it to 120 percent of its GDP under the November 2012 agreement, there should be a debt restructuring, Varoufakis argued on Wednesday.

He stressed that the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund do not have a common stance on this prospect.

In the meanwhile in regard to the bridging arrangement reached last Friday the Greek official praised it as a great success, noting that it allows some breathing space to the new government to start implementing its policy program after the expiry of the current program this weekend.

He highlighted that the target of achieving primary budget surplus of 3 percent of GDP this year was no longer on the table.

With the about 1.5 percent goal set by the new Left-led government, Varoufakis appeared confident that austerity-hit Greek people will soon see the difference.

Responding to mounting criticism within ruling Radical Left SYRIZA and voters for the concessions made eventually compared to pre-election pledges, the minister stressed that the party's economic agenda will be implemented during its four-year term in office.

Not everything can be done in the first four months, he said, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was addressing a gathering of the party's parliamentary group to discuss the new loan agreement.

Varoufakis made the statements a day after the Eurogroup approved the government's list of proposed reforms which opened the way for the completion of the Greek bailout agreement review in April and the ratification of Friday's deal in national parliaments.

The completion of the review was a prerequisite for the disbursement of any further funding to Athens which now has to face a funding gap and the skepticism of some creditors on the outcome of Friday's intermediate arrangement.

Varoufakis was categorical on Wednesday that despite reservations voiced over the past few hours regarding Athens'credibility and commitment to the reforms and what he called a "creative ambiguity" in the wording of the text, the promised policies would "clearly" be implemented.

Finance Ministry sources said that in order to fill the funding gap of the next two months the government would seek to launch talks -starting from Wednesday if possible - requesting an increase on the ceiling for the issuance of Greek treasury bills and the return of the 1.9 billion euros in profits from Greek bond holdings owned by the European Central Bank. Endit