Greek government sources said late on Thursday evening that Athens would reject the solution proposed at the June 15 Eurogroup and transfer the issue to the June 22 EU Summit.
The decision came after leaked statements by European officials who said that in the June 15 meeting of euro zone finance ministers there will be no talk on Greek debt relief measures and no funding from the European Central Bank quantitative easing (QE) program will be granted to Greece. The only thing that Greece can expect from the Eurogroup is the disbursement of the next loan tranche.
A government source told the Athens News Agency that the European officials’ leaks were very helpful because now Athens knows how to prepare its strategy. The source told ANA that the government does not recognize the Eurogroup as an authority on the issue and will take the matter to the EU Summit.
Meanwhile, a European Stability Mechanism official told Deutsche Welle that Greece should stop counting on the QE program and abandon the idea of QE altogether. Instead, the official said, Athens must focus on receiving the next loan tranche. As for the debt relief issue, that will only be discussed after the end of the third bailout program in the summer of 2018.
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