Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to call European Council President Donald Tusk and ask for an emergency EU summit after negotiations between Greece and creditors failed to bear results.
Greece’s aim was to reach a staff level agreement with creditors by Thursday and complete the bailout program review in an extraordinary meeting of euro zone finance ministers. However, the gap between the two sides is so wide that Tuesday’s talks lasted 30 minutes only. As a result, the emergency Eurogroup meeting will not take place.
However, after Tuesday’s talks between the two sides failed, the European Commission announced that there won’t be a Eurogroup meeting on Thursday.
The Greek government refuses to legislate contingency measures worth 3.6 billion euros creditors require, the International Monetary Fund in particular. The fund argues that the reforms that would yield 5.4 billion euros will not be enough to reach the 2018 fiscal target for a primary surplus that is 3.5 percent of GDP. Thereby, it requires additional measures that would be enacted in the case Greece fails to reach the target.
At the same time Greece’s state coffer is emptying at an alarming rate. The government has asked state organizations to transfer their reserve funds to the Bank of Greece. A government official on conditions of anonymity said that the state will be able to meet its financial obligations through June only. After that, the next bailout loan tranche is essential for Greece to make substantial loan repayments.
The position of the Greek government is that creditors demand fiscal measures and reforms that were not agreed on in the Memorandum of Understanding Athens signed last July. They claim that Greece has done its part in honoring the deal. Now that negotiations have stalled, Tsipras seeks a political solution.
Eurogroup chief confirms: No emergency meeting for Greece
Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of Eurogroup, confirmed on Tuesday that there will not be an emergency meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Thursday to discuss Greece’s bailout program review.
“No additional eurogroup on Greece this Thursday, more time needed. Meeting on first review, contingency package and debt at later stage,” Eurogroup spokesperson Michel Reijns wrote in Twitter.
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