One of the most frustrating things in life is when there is an issue, people talk about it but then do nothing to address it. One starts to wonder whether the problem of the Greek sovereign debt (because this is what the issue with Greece is all about) has become one such issue.

Over the past months, the situation had got to the point of resolution one way or another on a number of occasions, and yet it gets postponed once more. One would have hoped that the referendum on whether or not to accept the conditions asked for by the EU for further assistance, would have finally provided a resolution.

In effect it has not. The meeting two days after the referendum produced no results as the new Greek Finance Minister went empty handed. Then the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, asked for a bridging loan of €7 billion.

It is now being said that the final deadline is this coming Sunday at a meeting of the heads of government of the 28 member states of the EU. The Greek proposal on which the heads of government have to decide was to be submitted yesterday.

The Greek government has not come up with any proposals that would seek to remove privileges enjoyed in the past by some segments of the Greek society

The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said that the situation has become very critical. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the summit of the 28 member states has been called because the situation is rather dangerous.

The president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, said that the EU has braced itself for any eventuality – be it a Greek exit from the euro, be it a situation where Greece remains a member of the eurozone, as well as a situation that would require humanitarian aid for the Greek population. In the meantime, the European Central Bank is continuing to provide support to the Greek banking system.

It is still very difficult to understand whether Greece can actually be thrown out of the eurozone if it defaults on its debt. However, the creditors appear to be in unison on the point that they would not accept a haircut on the debt. Moreover, if Greece were to ask for help under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), they would need to accept conditions that are tougher then those proposed by the IMF, the EU and the ECB. Countries, such as Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Ireland, know something about this.

The situation has placed the ECB in a very difficult position. As it continues to provide liquidity to the Greek banking system, the monies owed by the country as a whole also continues to increase. So far, the ECB has provided liquidity to the tune of 89 billion, which need to be added to the level of sovereign debt. Besides, the Greek banks need to be recapitalised as most of its assets are in the form of bonds of the Greek government, which technically is in default given that it did not pay back the IMF loans that were due last week.

This is why it seems that we are going nowhere. The EU, together with the ECB and the IMF, expect Greece to come up with a credible set of reforms that would put the economy back on a growth path.

There are many who believe that if the Greek government does this, then support would be available.

Unfortunately, with all its populist rhetoric, the Greek government has not come up with any proposals that would seek to remove the privileges enjoyed in the past by some segments of Greek society, that would relaunch the industrial sector that has gradually but steadily disintegrated, that would restructure the pension system on the lines that other countries have done, and that would give the private sector more space to operate in.

It would seem that the Greek government is insisting in dictating to the other governments in the EU how it wishes to use the money of its taxpayers.

The position taken by the Maltese government is most certainly the right one. We have met our commitments all along the way and so we should not waive any of the loans that we have made to Greece. We also need to keep in mind the social problems that have been created in Greece as a result of this crisis.

This leads one to think that whatever is the final decision, it will be a lose-lose situation. In such a situation, it would be pertinent to ask whether we are getting anywhere. Worse still, are we also at the edge of the precipice?