By
ATHENS — The new Greek finance minister used a joint appearance with a top eurozone official on Friday to insist that Greece would no longer cooperate with auditors representing its international creditors and would not seek an extension to the country’s bailout program.
The remarks came after the finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the eurozone group of 19 finance ministers, engaged in the first unofficial negotiations regarding the bailout after Greek elections on Sunday, which put a coalition led by a leftist anti-austerity party in power.
The talks, held at the Finance Ministry here, yielded no decisions on Greece’s agreements with the so-called troika of international creditors: the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission. The men indicated, however, that there was a willingness for cooperation on both sides.
“We share common interests with Greece,” Mr. Djisselbloem said, and Mr. Varoufakis said the conversation had taken place in an “excellent climate.”
But Mr. Varoufakis’s description of the troika’s committee of auditors as “anti-European” toward the end of the news conference clearly ruffled Mr. Dijsselbloem, who shook his head before quickly shaking hands with his interlocutor and striding out of the room.
For his part, Mr. Dijsselbloem rejected the Greek government’s call for a conference to examine relief or a write-down of the country’s debt, remarking that an arena for discussion already exists.
“It’s called the Eurogroup,” he said, referring to the eurozone group of finance ministers. Mr. Dijsselbloem warned against “unilateral steps,” saying that “ignoring existing agreements is not the road to follow.”
“Progress has been made in Greece,” he added. “We must not lose that progress.”
Mr. Varoufakis said that he was open to reforms to restore the country’s competitiveness but that he would not accept “the continuation of a self-fueled crisis” of deflation and unsustainable debt that have resulted from the austerity measures imposed as part of a bailout of 240 billion euros ($270 billion). He also said he looked forward to a new agreement “that will allow Greece to breathe.”
In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, Mr. Varoufakis said his government did not want a pending €7 billion installment of the bailout package that the country needs to pay down bonds coming due by August.
Mr. Dijsselbloem said the sides would reach an agreement before the expiration of the European portion of Greece’s bailout package on Feb. 28. The International Monetary Fund portion is set to expire in spring 2016.
The previous, conservative-led government secured an agreement with creditors in December to extend the European portion until the end of February. Failure to extend the bailout terms could jeopardize the access of Greece’stroubled banks to financing from the European Central Bank, which has said it will guarantee liquidity only if the country reaches an agreement with its creditors.
Mr. Varoufakis said his government would not seek a bailout extension.
“Our first act as government will not be to reject the rationale of questioning this program by making a request to extend it,” he said.
He added that the government would work with “the legitimate institutions of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund,” rather than with the envoys they have been sending. Mr. Varoufakis echoed the insistence of leaders of his party, Syriza, that they engage directly with the troika’s top officials.
The appetite for such a dialogue appears weak, though. Wolfgang Schäuble, the finance minister of Germany, which has championed austerity in Greece and other financially troubled eurozone states, repeated on Friday that the rules accompanying the rescue loans for Greece “can’t just be broken.”
Addressing an insurance industry event in Berlin, Mr. Schäuble said his government was “prepared for discussions” but would not be unreasonably pressured by Syriza.
“We are averse to blackmail,” he said.
