French finance minister optimistic ahead of crunch Greek debt meeting

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said he believed that the European Union and Greece could reach agreement on the country’s debt ahead of a key meeting in Brussels on Monday. The Greek government should keep previous governments’ commitments, he said, but Europe should help it put new policies into practise.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (L) with France's Michel Sapin earlier this month AFP

Before going to join other eurozone finance ministers for what was predicted to be a tough meeting on Greece’s debt, Sapin told France 2 TV that “happily” an agreement was possible.

He was not so clear on what such a deal could be, however.

“From a certain point of view the Germans are right,” he said. “Greece – not the present government – has signed a certain number of agreements and it must respect those agreements irrespective of the change of government.

“But the Greeks say – and they’re right, I support them – we’ve just changed government and it wasn’t to carry on as we did before. That’s where we have to find the right way to work together.”

Greece has to respect European rules but Europe has to respect the Greek people’s vote, Sapin went on.

“There’s been a change of government, there are new policies. We have to help them put those policies into practise.”

Sapin’s predecessor as French finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, who is now European Union economic commissioner, also insisted that agreement was possible.

The discussion would be “complicated”, he predicted, “but I’m approaching it with the certitude that it can succeed”.