NEWS

PM to "Der Spiegel": ECB has "rope around our neck"

PM to "Der Spiegel": ECB has "rope around our neck"

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told the German magazine 'Der Spiegel that the European Central Bank will be assuming a grave responsibility if it objects to Greece issuing short-term debt such as Treasury bills to plug the government's financing gap, Reuters reported on Friday (06/03/2015).

"Then it will be back to the thriller we saw before Feb. 20," he told the magazine, referring to the date Greece agreed a four-month bailout extension with its euro zone partners.

"The ECB has still got a rope round our neck," Tsipras said, according to excerpts of the interview released on Friday.

The leftist prime minister said he did not want Greece to leave the euro "because I love Europe" and said he had asked all his cabinet ministers for "fewer words and more deeds".