希臘有望本週達成860億歐元紓困協議
Greece and its creditors are close to reaching an outline deal this week on the debt-laden country’s 86bn rescue programme, amid signs of growing German isolation over its tough stance towards Athens.
負債累累的希臘與債權人接近在本週就860億歐元紓困計劃達成框架性協議，跡象顯示德國正因其對希臘的強硬立場而日益孤立。
Significant concessions by Alexis Tsipras and his negotiators in the past month have encouraged other hawkish eurozone members such as Finland to break with Berlin, which wants to hold out longer to squeeze more reforms from Athens.
過去一個月期間，亞歷克西斯倠溟拉斯(Alexis Tsipras)及其談判代表作出的重大讓步，鼓勵了芬蘭等其他鷹派歐元區成員國與德國分道揚鑣，後者希望拖延更長時間，迫使希臘承諾更多改革措施。
Even previously sceptical EU diplomats now say that a full agreement could be reached by the August 20 deadline, when Athens must make a 3.2bn debt repayment to the European Central Bank.
就連之前持懷疑態度的歐盟(EU)外交官如今也表示，在8月20日希臘必須向歐洲央行(ECB)償還32億歐元債務的最後期限前，有望達成一項全面協議。
The cautious optimism contrasts sharply with the acrimony at last month’s eurozone summit, which came close to ushering Greece out of the currency bloc before agreeing to negotiate a deal. The main elements of the proposed deal include spending cuts, administrative reform and privatisations. Remaining sticking points between Athens and its creditors include details of a 50bn privatisation plan and proposals for raising the planned budget surplus, excluding debt interest, to 3.5 per cent in 2018 from zero this year.
這種謹慎樂觀與上月歐元區峯會的尖銳對立形成鮮明對比。在那次會議上，希臘差點被請出歐元區，最終各方纔同意談判達成協議。擬議協議的主要內容包括削減支出、推行行政改革以及私有化。希臘與債權人之間剩下的癥結包括500億歐元的私有化計劃的具體細節，以及在2018年將計劃預算盈餘（不包括債務利息）從今年的0提高至3.5%的建議。
Officials in Brussels said an early deal was “ambitious but feasible”. But they emphasised that while this was the “preferable” way forward, the option of a 5bn bridging loan to give negotiators more time, championed by Berlin, was still on the table.
布魯塞爾的官員稱，達成初步協議的想法“雄心勃勃，但可行”。但他們強調稱，儘管這是“最好”的出路，但是德國所主張的提供50億歐元過渡性貸款、以便讓談判代表們擁有更多時間的方案，仍是談判桌上的一個選項。
