Eurozone officials discuss holding emergency summit on Greece
Idea raised as fears mount that finance ministers will fail to reach deal
Eurozone officials are discussing holding an emergency summit on Sunday for leaders to tackle the crisis in Greece amid mounting fears a deal to break an ongoing impasse between Athens and its bailout creditors will not be reached at a high-stakes finance ministers meeting on Thursday.
According to two senior officials, the idea of holding a summit of eurozone heads of government was mooted in meetings among representatives of Greece’s creditors on Monday, a day after last-ditch negotiations to reach a deal to release €7.2bn in much-needed bailout aid collapsed.
They said that although the idea was discussed, there is considerable resistance to convening the summit among several creditors since technocratic issues like Greek pension reforms and tax rates are not normally the province of EU presidents and prime ministers.
“If there’s nothing to discuss among finance ministers, there wouldn’t be anything to discuss among heads,” said one official from a Greek creditor institution.
Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s finance minister, said the country has no plans to present new proposals at the finance ministers meeting, signalling the country won’t make further concessions to unlock bailout funds needed to avoid default.
He told Germany’s Bild newspaper: “The eurogroup is not the forum for presenting positions and plans which have not previously been discussed and negotiated at a lower negotiating level.”
Greece remained willing to find a solution but creditors need to take Greece’s proposals seriously to end the impasse, he said, urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel “to take the lead”.
A spokesman for Donald Tusk, the European Council president who would be responsible for convening a summit, said there were currently no plans to hold a special session of leaders.
“The next and hopefully decisive step is the eurogroup [on] Thursday,” said the spokesman, Preben Aamann. “Any further steps will be decided in light of the eurogroup outcome. There should be no illusions that an agreement becomes easier or more advantageous over time.”
Still, the fact the idea was discussed reflects mounting concerns that a deal on a list of Greek economic reforms to release the €7.2bn tranche, which Athens needs to avoid defaulting on its debts, remains elusive ahead of what many officials believe is a make-or-break finance ministers’ session.
Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, has publicly insisted that he will not be presenting any new compromise proposals at the Thursday meeting, and officials said the discussion at the eurogroup of finance ministers on Greece could end up being perfunctory as a result.
In addition, some officials believe Athens’ decision to send Mr Varoufakis, the combative finance minister, to the eurogroup session could preclude a deal being worked on Thursday. Eurozone officials have in the past attempted to work directly with Mr Tsipras, who they view as a more pragmatic negotiator than his finance minister.
The two sides remain far apart on what would constitute an acceptable list of economic reforms that Athens would need to adopt to release the bailout funds and avoid default, which could come as soon as two weeks when a €1.5bn loan repayment falls due to the International Monetary Fund.
Athens has resisted suggestions by creditors of cuts to Greece’s public sector pensions and tax increases on sensitive items like electricity. Creditors have insisted they are open to ideas of other budget savings to replace those measures, but so far the Greek government has not responded with proposals the creditors believe are credible.