Greek bailout deal agreed ‘in principle’

Greece has agreed a bailout deal “in principle” with its creditors, the European Commission has said.
The Commission said a technical agreement had been reached with Greece, which now requires political approval.
Earlier, Greece’s Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos had said “two or three small issues,” were yet to be resolved with lenders, following overnight talks in Athens.
A deal is needed to keep the country in the eurozone and avert bankruptcy.
Follow latest developments here
The Greek government is hoping to push a new €86bn (£60bn) three-year agreement through parliament later this week.
The country needs a deal by 20 August, when it has a debt repayment of about €3bn to make to the European Central Bank.
Technical deal
A European Commission spokeswoman said a technical deal had been reached last night between parties including Greece, the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Stability Mechanism.
She said a series of phone calls between political leaders would now take place.
A Greek official said earlier that Greece agreed the function of a new independent privatisation fund, and how non-performing bank loans will be administered.
Both issues had been key sticking points in negotiations.
“Finally, we have white smoke,” the official said.
Deregulation of the natural gas market, another sticking point, was also agreed.
But Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb sounded a cautious note, saying more work needed to be done with the details to finalise the agreement.
The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers is to meet on Friday to discuss approval of the deal, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said.
His centre-right People’s Party, which has a majority in the Spanish parliament, will be asking other parties to vote in favour of the agreement, he added.