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This article was published June 21, 2015 at 22:04.
The last change is the 21 June 2015 at 22:05.
BRUSSELS – It was a weekend of frantic contacts between Greece and its European partners in a desperate attempt to reach agreement on new financial aid to the Mediterranean country. The government has come up with new proposals aiming to wrest a compromise tomorrow, Monday, when they are set before a meeting of finance ministers of the euro area and then, later, a summit at the level of Heads of State and Government of ‘monetary union.
During a council of ministers on Sunday morning, the greek government has come up with new proposals to credit institutions (the Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund). The aim is to conclude the current memorandum expiring at the end of the month and rip new aid to 7.2 billion euro in a few days from a refund of 1.6 billion euro to the Fund. The setting is dramatic, marked by a flight of bank deposits.
“The prime minister presented the proposals to the three leaders,” said the greek government in a statement, referring to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, French President François Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel. Athens believes that the proposals will lead to “a final solution” of the matter. So far, the government has refused to put his hand significantly to three areas identified by creditors: the pension system, labor law and taxation.
The content of the proposals remains uncertain. We know that Juncker held talks on the phone with Tsipras numerous times to phone. The same greek prime minister had other contacts at the top. Tsipras is looking for a difficult compromise that puts both the creditors agree, is his party. Syriza is divided. Many in the movement of the radical left are against a compromise that requires some form of new austerity.
In words, the euro-zone countries appear inflexible. They want respect for the agreements to grant new aid. They know, however, that at the end of the month a greek failure to repay the IMF is likely to result in a dramatic chain of events lead up to the exit of Greece from the euro zone. The impact on monetary union would be economic, but also political. Greece would slide into chaos, damaging the same image of Europe.
In this sense, the government greek know that lenders have every incentive to successfully close the negotiations. Not for anything else, even yesterday, a European official explained: “We continue to work informally for a solution.” This does not mean that an agreement has already been written. The risk of a hiccup remains, also because there is resentment in many European countries, if not anger, towards Greece and its negotiating tactics. The country is caught between rescue and failure.
“Rationally are optimistic about an agreement – explained Saturday a European head, before the announcement of the arrival of new proposals Greek – but I can not have a dose of pessimism. Nell’establishment greek there is a vein imponderable. ” Among the Eurogroup meeting, which is expected to start at 12.30, and the euro area summit, set for 19.00, it was set a meeting between Tsipras and the presidents of the main institutions involved in the negotiations.
In fact, the aim of these days is to find an agreement to extend the memorandum which expires at the end of June, the only way – given the tight deadlines – to continue to negotiate with Greece and if grant new loans. Tomorrow, in addition to the two extraordinary summits, there will also be a meeting of the Governing Council of the ECB to decide whether to increase again the loans to the banking sector greek, victim of a flight of deposits that last week amounted to 4 to 5 billion euro.
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