Greece’s creditors will not return to Athens for further negotiations on the bailout program implementation unless the Greek government cooperates, says a Market News International report.
The quartet of representatives of Greece’s lenders — the European Commission, European Central Bank, European Stability Mechanism and International Monetary Fund — left Athens last week without coming to an agreement with the Greek team on key issues such as pension fund reforms and red loans settlement.
According to the report, a Eurozone official told MNI that the lenders’ representatives will not return to Athens to continue talks unless Greece comes up with solid proposals and accurate figures.
The official also said that the Greek government’s effort to make negotiations a political issue in order to gain lighter measures will not be acceptable by the majority of fellow Eurozone countries.
According to the EU official, “last week’s talks were simply exploratory” and Creditors did not express any demands since they didn’t have the required data at hand. However, he said, “there is a wide gap between what creditors want and Greece proposes.”
Another EU official told MNI that despite Europe’s good will to accept alternative measures instead of pension cuts, Greece doesn’t seem able to implement such measures.
The official said that there is a lot work to be done since there are many disagreements. He said that negotiations might take months.
According to the report, a Greek official told MNI that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet with French President Francois Hollande in Paris on February 17 and will ask for his help. He also said that the Greek PM asked for help from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying that Greece cannot handle the refugee crisis and the evaluation of the bailout program at the same time.
Both EU officials said that Eurozone will not accept negotiations on a political level. However, they said that Europe understands the difficulties Greece is facing regarding the refugee influx.
Meanwhile, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said in parliament on Monday that if negotiations drag until May or June, then Greece will be in a very difficult position.
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