Greece, lenders reach deal on bailout reforms - finance minister
ATHENS May 2 Greece and its foreign creditors reached a deal early on Tuesday on a package of bailout-mandated reforms, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said, paving the way for the disbursement of further rescue funds.
The deal, which includes labour and energy reforms as well as pension cuts and tax rises, marks a milestone in talks between the two sides which began last October as part of Greece's latest bailout review and were expected to have been concluded late last year.
"There was white smoke," Tsakalotos told reporters. "The negotiations for a technical deal were concluded on all issues... the way has now been paved for debt relief talks."
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by Karolina Tagaris)