ATHENS, Greece — Greece heads to another round of negotiations Friday after dropping key demands for a bailout settlement, but still faced stiff opposition from lead lender Germany, which criticized Athens’ latest proposals as a “Trojan horse” designed to dodge its commitments.
Eurozone finance ministers agreed to hold their third meeting on the Greek debt crisis in just over a week after Athens formally requested a six-month extension of loan agreements with rescue creditors that expire this month.
Going back on recent election campaign pledges, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ new left-wing government said it would honor debt obligations and agree to continued supervision from bailout lenders and the European Central Bank.
Late Thursday, Tsipras held telephone conversations with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel after Germany sharply criticized the Greek offer during preparatory talks in Brussels.
Greek media, including state television, widely quoted a German representative at the talks as saying the Greek offer “rather represents a Trojan horse, intending to get bridge financing and in substance putting an end to the current program.”
The comments were confirmed by a senior official in the Greek Finance Ministry.
