Merkel Said to See Tsipras Ready to Deal on Debt Demands

Chancellor Angela Merkel is convinced that Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras will do business with other euro-region governments if he wins next week’s election and scale back the demands that put him on a collision course with creditors, German government officialssaid.

With polls showing Tsipras’s Syriza alliance holding its lead before the Jan. 25 election, Merkel views him as the kind of politician who would become more pragmatic once he’s in power, one official said. Scope for easing the terms on bailout loans awarded to Greece starting in 2010 is limited by a 2012 European Union accord, restricting the room for maneuver of any Tsipras-led government, said another official. Both asked not to be named because the chancellery discussions are private.