Greek Finance Minister Rejects Possibility of Withdrawal From Eurozone

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has stressed that his country does not intend to leave the Eurozone and all speculations to the contrary are harmful to the ongoing negotiation process with the creditors.

ATHENS (Sputnik) – Speaking to reporters on Monday, Varoufakis said that he never expressed support for withdrawal from the Eurozone (Grexit) in his Saturday interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper, but only said that "hypothetically", Greece would have to hold elections or a referendum if the Eurogroup rejects the current leadership's reform proposals in the debt negotiations.

According to Varoufakis, the newspaper interpreted his words incorrectly, claiming that he expressed support for a referendum in favor of Grexit.

Varoufakis also said that he was satisfied with the results of Eurogroup talks and that Greece has not been wasting time, contrary to Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem's claims, and plans to present an additional list of reforms to the group of Eurozone finance ministers.

Last month, Athens and Eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement to extend Greece's bailout for another four months. The new deal stipulates that Greece carry out all remaining reforms required by the creditors before it can receive another aid installment from the bailout, amounting to about 7.2 billion euros ($7.9 billion).

Greece's total debt currently surpasses 320 billion euros. It has borrowed a total of 240 billion euros ($265 billion) from the troika of international creditors, comprising the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), under two aid packages.

Greece will start direct talks with troika representatives on Wednesday in Brussels.

Greece's anti-austerity Syriza party, which came to power in January, has pledged to revise the country's bailout terms dictated by the troika, which has created much uncertainty regarding Greece's future in the Eurozone.