PTI
Brussels
Greece's eurozone partners were doubtful of a last-ditch bailout deal on Saturday, saying talks to stop it crashing out of the euro would be tough because trust in Athens had collapsed.
Hardline German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble led a chorus of scepticism about Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's new reform plan aimed at a third debt rescue package worth more than 80 billion euros (USD 89 billion).
Parliament approved the leftist leader's package of pension cuts and tax hikes in the early hours on Saturday, but there are doubts that finance ministers meeting in Brussels will back them ahead of a make-or-break EU summit on Sunday.
“We will have extremely difficult negotiations,” Schaeuble told reporters in Brussels.
“In the last months hope has been destroyed in an incredible way, even up to just a few hours ago. Definitely we cannot trust promises,” he added.
Minister after minister insisted on the need to rebuild trust with Athens after six months of torturous debt deal negotiations and a sudden referendum in which Greeks overwhelmingly rejected creditors' bailout terms.
“We are not there yet. There is a major issue of trust -- can the Greek government be trusted to do what they are promising in coming weeks, months and years?” asked Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said it “would build trust” if the Greeks legislate as soon as next week on some of the reform plans, especially after Tsipras's majority was “eroded” by the parliament vote.
Tsipras won the backing of 251 out of 300 deputies for his reform plans, even though they are similar to the ones that Greeks rejected in the referendum after he branded them “humiliating”.
Greece's creditors fear it will not keep its promises after two previous bailouts worth 240 billion euros merely heaped fresh debt on a mountain worth nearly 180 percent of the country's GDP.
Despite roundly voting 'No' last Sunday to accepting tough austerity terms for a bailout that expired June 30, Greeks are alarmed at capital controls that have closed banks and rationed cash at ATMs for nearly two weeks.
The Greek government hoped the vote would give it an emphatic mandate to continue the talks with the creditors.
But it also revealed the depth of opposition to fresh austerity.
Three senior government figures were among 10 deputies who abstained or voted against and several others from the ruling leftist Syriza party stayed away, prompting commentators to predict a government shake-up.
