Greece's radical promises off the table as tomorrow's reform deadline looms

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared a deal with EU leaders to extend the country’s huge debt bailout would end hated austerity measures, but admitted his government faced scaling back its leftist agenda.

In a national address after Greece was given a crucial four-month extension to its bailout in negotiations late on Friday, Tsipras said “this deal cancels out austerity.”

But the bailout extension came at the cost of concessions including a commitment to spell out reforms by tomorrow.

The reforms would be aimed at persuading its European creditors to extend further loans. Athens received no immediate loan assistance.

Tsipras however argued that his government had foiled a plan by “blind conservative forces” in Greece and abroad to bankrupt the country at the end of the month, when its European bailout had been scheduled to expire.

At the same time, the 40-year-old  leader warned that the “real difficulties” lie ahead. He said his government would now focus on negotiating a new reform blueprint with Greece’s creditors by June.