Greek government reshuffles EU/IMF negotiating team after Riga debacle

27-Apr (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday reshuffled his team handling talks with European and IMF lenders, after his finance minister was sharply criticized for his performance at a euro zone meeting last week.

Athens is dangerously close to bankruptcy and is scrambling to find a deal with increasingly furious lenders to unlock aid before it runs out of money or defaults on debt payments in May.

Tsipras and senior aides expressed support for Yanis Varoufakis and agreed the finance minister would supervise a new team negotiating a reforms deal with lenders, but appointed deputy Foreign Minister Euclid Tsakalotos as coordinator of the group, a government official said.

The appointment suggested Tsakalatos, an Oxford-educated economist and professor who is soft-spoken and well-liked by officials representing creditors, would have a more active role in face-to-face talks from now on.

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