Greece, confident as EU meeting looms, sticks to no-austerity pledge

A day before a euro zone finance ministers' meeting in Brussels to shore up Greece's dwindling finances and help keep it in the euro zone, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told Germany's Stern magazine that Athens needed time to implement its reforms and shake off the mismanagement of the past.

"I expect difficult negotiations; nevertheless I am full of confidence," he said. "I promise you: Greece will then, in six months' time, be a completely different country."

The Eurogroup of finance ministers meets in Brussels on Monday to try to find common ground with Tsipras' new government, elected on a pledge to scrap the austerity strictures of Greece's international bailouts, on issues such as debt management, financing, privatization and labor reform.

Read More: www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/16/us-eurozone-greece-idUSKBN0LJ0SH20150216