Austria finmin hopes Greek debt team reshuffle brings progress

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reshuffled the negotiating team after a meeting with euro zone finance ministers last week brought little progress.

The switch appeared to shunt Athens Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to a less active role in negotiations.

Schelling told reporters before a cabinet meeting that he learned of the move only via media reports but that it was "in order" for Tsipras to change the team, adding that "it just has to be quick...I hope we don't start again at zero."

"We hope...that the Greek government now gets out of the headlines, that they concretely back up measures with laws, valuations and schedules," he said.

On the domestic front, Schelling is in talks to provide much needed funding to the Austrian province of Carinthia, which has said it could run out of cash in June unless it gets renewed access to borrowing via the federal treasury.

Carinthia had provided debt guarantees worth many times its annual budget to now-defunct lender Hypo Alpe Adria, which is being wound down by "bad bank" Heta Asset Resolution.

The FMA watchdog took control of Heta last month and froze its debt repayments while it works out a haircut plan.

"It's clear that Carinthia is the bondholder. It's clear that the Republic of Austria is not liable for these bonds," Schelling said of more than 10 billion euros ($10.91 billion) in Heta debt backed by the province.

Schelling dismissed media reports that the federal government might take responsibility for Carinthia's debt.

"There cannot be talks in the direction of becoming liable for the bonds," he said, adding Hypo creditors should have been more careful in taking on such debt.

"One has to tell the creditors: who believes that someone with a 2 billion euro budget can service 20 billion in guarantees?"

(Reporting By Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Michael Shields)