Greek deal built on Franco-German cooperation -foreign ministers

[VIENNA] Germany's and France's foreign ministers said that a last-minute Greek deal reached on Monday morning was based on Franco-German cooperation.

Eurozone leaders made Greece surrender much of its sovereignty to outside supervision in return for agreeing to talks on an 86 billion euros bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the single currency.

"The status we have now after this night of long and difficult negotiations would not have been reached without Franco-German cooperation," Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on the sidelines of the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna.

"There are still difficult steps which are ahead of us to get to a solution for a rescue package. It's mainly up to Greece to show that they are ready and capable to rebuild trust with their own decisions," Mr Steinmeier said of the Greek deal.

"This accord is good news because it allows Greece to stay in the eurozone and enables the euro to remain solid," France's Laurent Fabius said.

"I wanted to underline the degree to which Franco-German relations were crucial to reach a compromise and bring together all the Europeans," Mr Fabius added.

REUTERS

Read more on the Greek crisis here