EU seeks to calm budget row with Greece

Austerity-wracked Greece could strike a deal with its creditors by early next year, a senior EU official said Sunday, seeking to calm a recent row over surprise handouts announced by Athens. In that perspective a second examination of Greece's budget plan "will be concluded by the start of 2017," he added. Tsipras sparked a new row with its European creditors last week after announcing handouts including a surprise one-off payout to 1.6 million low-income pensioners and a sales tax break for islands sheltering thousands of migrants.