As Greece is struggling to reach a deal over austerity measures with its European creditors in order to unlock the vital €7.2 billion euros it desperately needs and make a €300-million payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem dashed hopes of an imminent deal and told Dutch news station RTLZ on Tuesday that the agreement announcement is “not theoretically possible this week.”
Although Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had raised hopes for a solution this week by submitting a “complete” and “realistic” plan for economic reforms to creditors that will secure the country’s position in the Eurozone, Dijsselbloem was unimpressed with the slow progress and vague proposals made during the negotiations and told Dutch television: “We are still nowhere near enough, that’s the conclusion and time is pressing.”
“The bottom line is not that we can meet each other halfway, the whole package must be solid,” he added. Dijsselbloem admitted that there has been some progress but it is “still not sufficient” to “meet the economic conditions” of a deal. He said that he will do everything to get Greece out of the abyss, clarifying though that “the Greek government should be honest with voters.”
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