The standoff between Greece and its creditors intensified yesterday as Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras accused the International Monetary Fund of "criminal responsibility" for his country's debt crisis.
He vowed not to accept a deal that would hurt workers and pensioners.
In a fiery televised speech to the Greek parliament yesterday, Mr Tsipras said the time had come for the IMF’s proposals to be judged not just by Greece “but especially by Europe”.
He described the austerity proposals suggested by the lenders as “humiliating.” “The mandate we have got from the Greek people is to end austerity policy . . . In order to achieve that, we have to seek a deal which will spread the burden evenly and which will not hurt wage earners and pensioners.”
Merkel commitment reiterated
Amid reports that an emergency summit of European Union leaders could be convened over the weekend should tomorrow's eurogroup meeting fail to yield progress on the Greek deadlock, German chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her commitment to keeping Greece in the euro, though she told reporters that "unfortunately" she had nothing new to report on Greece.
“I’m concentrating all of my energy on helping the three institutions find a solution with Greece. That’s what I see as my task. I want to do everything possible to keep Greece in the euro zone,” she said in Berlin.
EU officials confirmed European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker had spoken by phone to a number of Greek opposition leaders on Monday, including former prime minister Antonis Samaras.
Euro-zone finance ministers gather in Luxembourg tomorrow for a key eurogroup meeting that will also be attended by IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.
Euro-zone finance ministers are also due to consider the next head of the eurogroup, with the incumbent, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, facing competition from Spanish economy minister Luis de Guindos.
Mr de Guindos said yesterday that while he respected Mr Dijsselbloem, “it is better to have a eurogroup chair from a country which has been on the brink of collapse and which is now growing at double the rate”. MrDijsselbloem replaced Mr Juncker as head of the eurogroup in 2013 and is seeking another 2½-year term.
The decision about who should lead the eurogroup formation is likely to be overshadowed by the Greek crisis tomorrow in Luxembourg, amid mounting fears that Greece could be moving perilously close to a euro-zone exit.
With less than two weeks until Greece is due to repay about €1.5 billion due to the IMF, there are fears the euro zone’s most indebted country could default on its debts. Greece faces further repayments totalling €6.5 billion to the ECB in July and August.
The ECB will consider its provision of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to the Greek banking sector today. Last week the central bank increased its ELA provision to Greece by €2.3 billion, bringing the total to €83 billion – the biggest weekly increase since mid-February.
