Dijsselbloem: Athens vote begins to help 'rebuild trust'

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Thursday tough reforms approved by the Greek parliament is "a start to rebuild trust" as he called for urgent foreign investment to help boost Greece's debt-ridden economy.

"It's going to be step by step. But yes, I believe it's a start to help rebuild trust," said Dijsselbloem in the Dutch parliament, referring to a raft of tough reforms set as the condition to open bailout negotiations.

Eurozone finance ministers earlier Thursday approved the launch of formal bailout talks, basing their decision on an assumption that national parliaments, including in powerhouse Germany, would also approve opening negotiations on a  86-billion-euro bailout, Greece's third since 2010.

The Eurogroup, led by Dijsselbloem, said the decision to move forward was "on the basis of a positive assessment" by the institutions that will govern Greece's bailout -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"Investment links to the reforms," said Dijsselbloem, a Labour minister in the ruling coalition of Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who also sat in on the question session in parliament.

"If there's no investment now in Greece... its economy will not get off the ground," Dijsselbloem said.

"Therefore, foreign investment in the Greek economy is urgently needed," he said, adding that "privatisation is a chance for the investment Greece is craving."

But Dijsselbloem warned that should Athens stray from its agreed-upon reforms, the spectre of a 'Grexit', or Greece euro exit, could return.

"If the reform programme falters, it (a Grexit scenario) can come back. We have been very close before," he said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earlier this week agreed to tough reforms after 17 hours of gruelling negotiations at a summit from Sunday to Monday with fellow eurozone leaders in return for a third massive rescue programme.

To rebuild the trust they said was lost during six months of bitter negotiations with the Tsipras government, the eurozone leaders demanded that he immediately push through reforms on taxes and pensions even before actual negotiations on the details of the new bailout deal.