Greece will try to bring more to the table in negotiations for a debt deal and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will probably speak with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker by phone on Saturday to try to end the deadlock, a Greek minister said.
Time is fast running out for Greece to secure a cash-for-reforms deal with its international creditors to avoid a default at the end of June that could see Greece removed from the euro zone. Depositors are pulling billions out of Greek banks, leading the government to consider the imposition of capital controls to stop the flow of currency out of the country.
It remains uncertain how far Greece’s leftist government, which won a January election vowing to pull its people out of austerity, is willing to bend in order to secure an agreement or what kind of additional offers it could make.
A young woman walks past a graffiti called ‘Death of Euro’ by French street artist Goin, in central Athens on Friday. Photo: Aris Messinis
While Greece has dug its heels over demands for pension cuts and tax rises, its leaders have continued to sound positive ahead of an emergency euro zone summit on Monday.
“We are not going there with the old proposal. Some work is being done to see where we can converge, so that we achieve a mutually beneficial solution.”
The European Central Bank has kept Greek lenders afloat and on Friday raised the ceiling on so-called emergency liquidity assistance, which the banks rely on to keep their doors open, by 1.8 billion euros.
What Greece can bring to the discussions to assist them to meet their fiscal responsibilities remains uncertain. It seems unlikely that Greece will leave the Euro zone, as this may lead to a knock-on effect to other struggling Euro economies.
Source: Reuters (as edited)
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