By Nektaria Stamouli
ATHENS--The Greek government moved Saturday to repair the
relations with its international creditors, after a turbulent first
week at the office and as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance
Minister Yanis Varoufakis embrace for a fresh round of meeting with
European counterparts.
Mr. Tsipras toned down his rhetoric and appeared confident the
country will reach a deal soon with its creditors, the European
Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary
Fund.
"The deliberation with our European partners has just begun,"
Mr. Tsipras said in a statement emailed to Bloomberg News Saturday.
"Despite the fact that there are differences in perspective, I am
absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually
beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a
whole."
His comments come a day after a meeting between the new Greek
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and the head of Eurogroup Jeroen
Dijsselbloem in Athens, which ended with tough rhetoric and an
exchange of grimaces.
Mr. Varoufakis dismissed Greece's strict bailout regimen as
"based on an anti-European logic," visibly angering Mr.
Dijsselbloem, who warned Greece against "unilateral steps and
ignoring previous arrangements." The two men left the room after a
perfunctory handshake.
Late Friday, the Greek premier has called the head of the
European Central Bank, Mario Draghi in order to assure him that
Athens was looking for an agreement, according to a senior
government official.
"Talks were conducted in a good and reassuring spirit," the
official said.
Mr. Tsipras has also spoken over the phone with the president of
the European Parliament, Martin Schulz and Mr. Dijsselbloem late
Friday.
"Mr. Dijsselbloem has called the Greek premier in order to
reassure him that the negotiations will continue normally, despite
the signs of tensions during the press conference," the official
said.
Mr. Varoufakis will meet his French counterpart Michel Sapin in
Paris on Sunday, according to a statement by the Greek Finance
Ministry. On Monday, he will be in London to meet the U.K.
Chancellor George Osborne.
On Tuesday, both the Greek prime minister and Finance Minister
will be in Rome, where they will meet their Italian
counterparts.
On Wednesday, Mr. Tsipras will meet the European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels and the French President
François Hollande in Paris in the afternoon.
Greece's Finance Ministry announced Saturday that it had hired
financial consultancy firm Lazard to consult on issues of public
debt and fiscal management.
The country used the same financial adviser in 2012 during talks
over private-sector involvement as it sought to write down billions
of euros of debt in a major sovereign restructuring.
Write to Nektaria Stamouli at nektaria.stamouli@wsj.com