Where does Athens' optimism come from?

The new leftist government in Greece will have to face another week of tough negotiations with its creditors. But sounds coming Washington have definitely contributed to the optimism in Athens.

Eurozone finance ministers will meet again today with new Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to discuss how to deal with Greece?s economic problems. Their meeting last week failed to produce a result. 

Alexis Tsipras? government was elected last month on a ticket of ?new negotiations, new bailout agreement.? During an extraordinary meeting, the representatives of the new Greek government came face to face for the first time with the eurozone?s finance ministers but failed to convince them to change their stance. The meeting was followed by the leaders of the eurozone refusing to give the Greeks encouraging signs either.

Despite the failure to reach an agreement, Varoufakis indicated that they might achieve ?a convergence of opinion in the last five seconds.?

At any rate, eurozone leaders decided last Friday in Brussels that working groups on both sides should be set up to study each other?s position to find possible common ground. A new bailout plan is badly needed for the Tsipras government both for its political credibility at home and for the survival of millions of Greeks whose state of destitution is becoming unbearable.

The majority of eurozone leaders seem to oppose a review of the bailout terms that previous Greek governments signed. The most vocal among them, Germany, is demanding strict adherence to austerity measures and structural reforms. Characteristically, German officials were pointing out over the weekend that ?they should not give in to the ultra-leftists and ultra-rightists in Athens that would split...