GREEK Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis proposed Saturday that the ESM, Europe’s bailout mechanism, should offer a new 30-year loan to Athens so that it can buy back Greek government bonds worth 27 billion euros (US$35 billion) held by the European Central Bank (ECB).

    This would allow Greece to meet repayments to the ECB totalling 6.7 billion euros that are due in July and August and lengthen repayment on the rest of the debt.

    Varoufakis told Realnews newspaper that a solution would be “a 30-year loan with a relatively low interest (1.5 percent) from the ESM to Greece.”

    These repayments are on top of 1.6 billion euros due to the IMF that Athens must make by the end of June. The Greek Government is negotiating with its international creditors on a cash-for-reform deal aimed at averting default on the IMF debt.

    The International Monetary Fund’s decision to withdraw its team from Brussels does not mean the Washington-based lender has given up on reaching a deal with Greece, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday.

    “I don’t think one can interpret the International Monetary Fund’s action as meaning that the International Monetary Fund will leave the negotiations,” Juncker told a news conference.(SD-Agencies)