Eurozone downplays Greece vote worries

The eurozone's top finance officials on Saturday downplayed the risk of surprises after Greece's election next weekend, setting their sights instead on fraught bailout talks ahead, including restructuring Greek debt.

The EU's economics affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he had "no worries" over the outcome of the September 20 vote, which opinion polls show the radical leftists of ex-premier Alexis Tsipras fractionally ahead of the New Democracy conservatives.

"I have the impression, including when I see the polls, that there is a clear majority in Greece for parties that backed the (bailout)," Moscovici said at talks with European finance ministers in Luxembourg.

Greeks go to the polls for the fifth time in six years next Sunday as Tsipras seeks a fresh mandate to push through huge reform commitments made under the new 86-billion-euro ($96-billion) bailout.

Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling said he was "totally convinced" that Greece would do what was agreed after the elections.

"I expect it and I insist on it," he said.

According to a latest poll, Tsipras's Syriza party is virtually tied with its conservative rivals.

The GPO poll for Mega Channel gives Syriza 26 percent of voter intentions, compared to 25.8 percent for New Democracy.

A Kappa Research poll for Vima Newspaper on Sunday puts Syriza at 26.7 percent, and ND at 26.2.

Both parties support Greece's third bailout since 2010 that was agreed in August after six months of angry negotiations that sharply divided eurozone members.

"I don't know what party will win, which coalition will be formed," Moscovici said, with polls showing both parties short of winning an absolute majority.

Tsipras triggered the early poll with his August 20 resignation when his party split over austerity measures forced by the three-year bailout.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the tough-minded head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, urged Greek authorities to not waste any time, despite the vote.

"I think that it's important that in Greece the preparations continue while the political situation is of course unclear at the moment," said Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch finance minister.

"The work needs to continue as much as possible and the same would go for the institutions," he said.

- 'Positive climate' -

The Greek finance ministry meanwhile welcomed the talks in Luxembourg.

"The particularly positive climate created after August's agreement has been reasserted during the Eurogroup," the ministry said in a statement from Athens.

"The finance minister has stressed that the Greek government is abiding with the timetable of the agreement and has repeated the need of preparing for the discussion of the debt alleviation, expected immediately after the first evaluation," it said.

The European Commission oversees Greece's third bailout along with the European Central Bank and the eurozone's ESM bailout fund.

At the insistence of powerful Germany, the hardline International Monetary Fund is expected to join the programme after the first review, set for October.

But the IMF insists the eurozone reduce Greece's level of public debt, which stands at a towering 190 percent of gross domestic product.

European sources said that everyone involved was pushing to move quickly on the first review, in order to get the IMF on board.

But this would then bring tense negotiations on how to scale back the debt, with eurozone nations insisting this be done only by extending maturities.

"The debt restructuring debate will be intense in October and November, assuming all goes well with the first review," an EU source told AFP.