Friday, February 20, 2015

Greece to call for EU summit if bailout talks fail

Greece said Friday it would request an EU summit should crunch talks at a Eurogroup meeting Friday fail to resolve a bailout crisis which risks seeing Athens exit the eurozone.

"If we do not reach a deal, I think the question can be resolved thanks to political interventions at a higher level. I mean a European summit," State Minister Nikos Pappas, a close ally of Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras, was quoted as telling radio Parapolitika.

Greece was back at the negotiating table with eurozone finance ministers in Brussels Friday in search of a last-minute bailout compromise, with Berlin insisting Athens accept continued austerity in return for renewed debt aid.

But Pappas said the radical left government had no intention of making concessions.

"The message does not change. Either they accept it or they don't. There is no halfway house," he said.

"The idea of us asking permission to legislate is out of the question," he said, after a Greek government source released a document Thursday said to outline Germany's requests, including a demand that Athens "refrain from announcing" new reforms.

Athens pushed back both the announcement and a parliamentary vote on reforms originally scheduled for Friday, including social measures the government wants to introduce to counter austerity policies it says has driven the Greek economy into the ground.

Just hours before the Eurogroup summit was set to begin, Germany appeared to open the door to a last-minute deal between Athens and its creditors, saying Greece's request for a loan extension from its eurozone partners provided "a starting point" for more talks.

"From the German government's point of view, (the request) is still not sufficient," said Christiane Wirtz, spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel. But "it certainly offers a starting point for further talks."

  AFP
 english.ahram.org.eg
 20/2/15
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2 comments:

  1. Λίγο αργότερα, με δηλώσεις στο Reuters, ο κύριος Τουσκ απέρριψε το ενδεχόμενο σύγκλησης Συνόδου την Κυριακή, όμως δήλωσε έτοιμος να κάνει κάτι τέτοιο «εν ευθέτω χρόνω»....

    Σε κάθε περίπτωση, μετά την διαφαινόμενη συμφωνία στο αποψινό Eurogroup, το ενδεχόμενο αυτό, δηλαδή της έκτακτης Συνόδου Κορυφής, φαίνεται να απομακρύνεται.

    Με ένα υπαινικτικό tweet, νωρίτερα ο πρόεδρος του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου Ντόναλντ Τουσκ ενημέρωσε το απόγευμα της Παρασκευής, και ενώ βρισκόταν σε εξέλιξη οργιώδες παρασκήνιο στις Βρυξέλλες ότι υπήρξε επικοινωνία με τον επικεφαλής του Eurogroup Γερούν Ντάισελμπλουμ, τον Ελληνα πρωθυπουργό Αλέξη Τσίπρα και την Γερμανίδα Καγκελάριο Ανγκελα Μέρκελ.

    Ο κύριος Τουσκ έγραψε πως η επικοινωνία έγινε στο πλαίσιο αναζήτησης μιας «κοινώς αποδεκτής στάσης» των χωρών της ΕΕ, χωρίς όμως να εξηγήσει τι ακριβώς συζητήθηκε.................http://www.protothema.gr//politics/article/453358/to-upainiktiko-tweet-tou-donalt-tousk-gia-tis-diapragmateuseis/
    20/2/15

    ReplyDelete
  2. Greece bailout deal edges closer as ministers talk...

    Greece and its eurozone creditors appear to be nearing a bailout deal as finance ministers meet in Brussels.

    A draft agreement is being discussed to secure the agreement of all partners.

    The European Union's economics commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, tweeted from the emergency meeting to say they were making progress.

    Negotiators on both sides said Greece and creditors had agreed a draft text that could form the basis for final agreement on extending the bailout.

    The development comes after a day of negotiations in Brussels between Germany and Greece about the Greek request for more help.

    Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble and Greece's Yanis Varoufakis met IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who heads the Eurogroup.

    The Eurogroup meeting was delayed by four hours as the finance ministers worked in clusters where details of the statement were discussed....................http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31545115
    20/2/15

    ReplyDelete

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