Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that he expects Greece’s new proposal on its debt the latest by tomorrow because the time frame for Greece is increasingly short.
“We believed that there will be proposals, we must have new proposals sent to us. There is a great sense of urgency, we all share it … We know how difficult the situation in Greece is as we speak… We will never give a signal to the European Central Bank because it is independent. I hope that Greeks will send us the new proposal tomorrow morning, and we will see what we will do,” Dijsselbloem said.
Asked whether a bridge program will be offered to Greece, the Eurogroup president replied: “We won’t be talking for a medium-term program for reasons of credibility”.
Greece went to the emergency Eurogroup on Tuesday without a written proposal as Eurozone finance ministers expected, according to sources in Brussels. However the Greek side presented the proposal orally and it was the answer to the June 25th proposal.
Greece was represented by the newly appointed Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, after the resignation of Yanis Varoufakis.
Brussels insiders described the situation as “bleak” with many finance ministers showing disappointment that their Greek peer turned up empty-handed.
The Official Statement of the European Council of the European Union on the the July 7 Eurogroup:
The Eurogroup welcomed the new Greek Minister for Finance Euclid Tsakalotos who presented the situation in Greece following the referendum on 5 July 2015.
The Eurogroup exchanged views on the way forward.
Following the meeting Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem announced that the Greek government would submit a new request for financial assistance from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The request is expected tomorrow, 8 July 2015.
The Eurogroup is ready to hold a conference call on the same day when the request is received.
Following the submission of the request, the Eurogroup President will ask the institutions – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – to assess and analyse Greece’s financing needs and the debt sustainability. Following the assessment the Eurogroup will be able to take a decision on whether formal negotiations can start.
“All of this needs to be done in a matter of days, as we have very little time”, said J.Dijsselbloem.
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