Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras travels to Brussels today for a two-day summit of European Union leaders, amid continuing tensions between Athens and its international lenders over financial support for the country.
With the Ukraine crisis and Europe’s energy challenges topping the agenda of the two- day gathering, Mr Tsipras has been pressing EU leaders to discuss Greece as his government struggles to find common ground with lenders over reform proposals.
Yesterday, Mr Tsipras lambasted EU lenders in the Greek parliament, ahead of a vote on a controversial Bill designed to ease Greece’s “humanitarian crisis” through the introduction of a number of anti-poverty measures including food stamps.
The vote took place following the leaking of a European Commission document urging Greece to rethink the proposed legislation.
“We will not be frightened,” Mr Tsipras told parliament.
“The Greek government is determined to stick to the February 20th agreement. However, we demand the same from our partners. Let them stop unilateral actions, respecting the agreement they signed.”
€7.2 billion due
Negotiations between the three creditor institutions – the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund – and the new Greek government began in earnest last week as Greece seeks to unlock some of the remaining €7.2 billion due to it under its bailout programme in return for reform measures.
Mr Tsipras has called for a five-way meeting at the margins of the summit, which would include French president François Hollande, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and ECB president Mario Draghi.
While European Council president Donald Tusk is understood to be against the idea, German chancellor Angela Merkel has signalled her readiness to meet on the sidelines of today’s summit in Brussels.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is among the EU leaders attending the summit, which will also discuss the political situation in Libya.
Speaking in Brussels yesterday, Mr Juncker said he was concerned about the pace of progress on resolving the Greek crisis. “I’m still worried. I’m not satisfied,” he said. “I’d like everyone to get a grip.”
Ahead of the summit, German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned time was running out for Greece to stay in the euro zone.
“This is getting tight for Greece,” he said.
Formal complaint
Last week, the Greek embassy lodged a formal complaint with the foreign ministry in Berlin after Dr Schäuble reportedly criticised his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis as “stupidly naive”.
The German finance minister dismissed ever saying such a thing, blaming a translation error.
“I don’t know of any impolite remarks from me about German politicians and I’m not responsible for knowledge of German in Greece,” he said.
Mr Tsipras will visit Berlin on Monday for the first time since his election.
Germany’s economic minister Sigmar Gabriel said it was essential not to reduce the Greek standoff to a bilateral conflict.
“It does no one any favours to create the impression that this is a conflict between Greece and Germany,” said Mr Gabriel, the Social Democratic Party leader.
