Posted on 07/06/2015 7:55:32 PM PDT by Kaslin
Paris/Athens (dpa) - Eurozone leaders are pressuring Greece to offer a solution to its financial crisis, and Prime Minister Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he will deliver fresh ideas to an emergency summit Tuesday in Brussels.
Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem called late Monday for constructive proposals from Tsipras, telling his own Dutch parliament that it was "very questionable" that Greece could remain in the eurozone without a clear reform package.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Paris that a "generous" offer was made in late June to Greece - before Tsipras called the referendum in which Greeks on Sunday voted down bailout terms.
"The situation has to be solved," Merkel said.
French President Francois Hollande, after meeting late Monday with Merkel, emphasized the "urgency" of finding a solution, amid worries that Greek banks are rapidly running out of cash despite currency controls.
"It's up to Tsipras to put forward a serious and credible proposal that translates into a long and lasting programme," Hollande said.
The French and German leaders said they were open to new negotiations.
Tsipras vowed to submit ideas in Brussels for breaking the deadlock with Greece's international creditors: the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Eurozone leaders were due to gather at 6 pm (1600 GMT), following a 1 pm (1100 GMT) meeting of eurozone finance ministers, including newly appointed Greek Finance Minister Euclides Tsakalotos.
The 55-year-old Oxford-educated economist was named to succeed Yanis Varoufakis, who stepped down Monday.
Tsakalotos, who is seen as soft-spoken in comparison to his feisty predecessor, had already served as coordinator of the Greek negotiating team after the sidelining of Varoufakis in April.
"The referendum of July 5 will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage," Varoufakis wrote on his blog as he announced he was quitting to facilitate negotiations with international creditors.
Sunday's referendum saw 61 per cent of Greek voters side against the terms of a 110-billion-euro (122-billion-dollar) bailout package negotiated in 2010. A second package, totaling 172.6 billion euros, followed on February 21, 2012.
Tsipras had repeatedly said that the results of the referendum were not a vote on whether to remain in the eurozone. Instead, he said the vote secured support for his negotiating position seeking to renegotiate Greece's debts.
On Monday, all key Greek political parties - save the Communist Party and the far-right Golden Dawn - said they backed his stance as he headed to the special eurozone summit.
"The prime minister will go to Brussels to negotiate on behalf of all the Greek people," Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said in a televised address.
Greek banks are fast running out of money despite been propped up for months with money provided to the country's central bank through the ECB's Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) scheme. Reports said that banks in Greece would remain closed through Wednesday.
The European Central Bank said Monday that it will maintain the ELA provisions to Greece at around 90 billion euros (100 billion dollars) - the same level agreed on June 26, prior to Sunday's anti-austerity referendum. ECB governors are "closely monitoring" financial markets and the "balance of risks" to price stability in the euro area, the bank said after a meeting in Frankfurt.
Greece is due to repay 3.5 billion euros to the ECB on July 20, after missing a June 30 payment of 1.5 billion euros to the IMF.
Analysts say defaulting on the ECB payment would almost certainly result in the ECB ending its liquidity assistance, consequently bankrupting Greece's banking sector and possibly leading Greece to crash out of the euro.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the Washington-based crisis lender was "ready to assist Greece if requested."
Beware of Greeks bareing gifts!
“fresh ideas”.
While the Greek Socialist Government offers fresh ideas, their
countrymen will be dumpster diving to stay alive.
It ain’t over til it’s over.
Bearing.
Whichever way it goes that promises to be the near future, unless Germany simply puts the whole Greek population on the dole. Of course Germany would have to send an army to close Greek borders to keep all of Arabia Major from flooding in.
Here’s a proposal. Pay yer damn bills.
At least it's not the Fed. Yet.
If I did my math right, Greece owes approximately $25,000 per Citizen and they are miserably Bankrupt.
Again If I did my math right, we here in the US owe $51,000 per Citizen!!!
This is just the Debt on the books, not the $100 TRILLION DOLLARS in Unfunded Liability.
How are we any better off??
The Greeks will get bailed out again. Because it has to. Not more complicated than that. At least for several more years. We can kick the can down the road much further than most people think.
We owe dollars that the Fed can print.
The Greeks owe euros that they can’t print.
A different frying pan/fire.
Take Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Please.
“How are we any better off??”
We have an economy, unlike the greeks.
most citizens pay their taxes here, unlike the greeks.
we’ve haven’t defaulted on our debt, unlike the greeks.
our banks are open and there are no capital controls, unlike the greek banks which will be insolvent in a day or two.
just for starters.
“The Greeks will get bailed out again. Because it has to. Not more complicated than that. At least for several more years. We can kick the can down the road much further than most people think.”
Look at Junker’s words - it’s clear that losing Greece would be ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE, much worse than seeing, for example, his 8 year old granddaughter (if he has one) being raped by a deranged man.
...he will do ANYTHING to keep them - he just needs to understand their demands.
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