Greece proclaimed a new willingness to compromise with its international creditors yesterday, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that time was running out for a reform-for-aid deal to keep the country in the euro.
Just three days after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected the latest proposal from the EU and IMF as “absurd”, the Greek government said it is ready to negotiate a settlement acceptable to both sides by the end of this month – when Greece’s bailout programme expires and the country faces default on its debts.
For all the more positive mood music, a European Union official reported “no new developments” in the hunt for a deal under which the creditors would resume aid to Athens in return for promises of more austerity.
Athens and Brussels exchanged proposals last week in the hope of breaking an impasse that if unresolved, could force Greece out of the eurozone, an event that could shake financial markets and even the global economy.
We must replace the proposals Greece cannot accept with alternative measures
Merkel, who is due to meet Tsipras along with French President Francois Hollande tomorrow, stressed she wanted Greece to remain part of the currency bloc.
But speaking after a summit of the Group of Seven industrialised nations in Germany, she said: “There isn’t much time left. Everyone is working intensively.”
US President Barack Obama said after the meeting in the Bavarian Alps that the Greeks need to make “some tough political choices” and both sides must show flexibility. Hollande underlined that to reach the end of June deadline, a deal had to be nailed down soon.
Tsipras has called for broad-based political negotiations, but Hollande made clear the EU is more interested in the details of what he will promise.
“We must quickly have, in the coming hours or days, technical talks to narrow positions and to replace the proposals Greece cannot accept with alternative measures,” Hollande said after the G7 meeting. As he spoke, European Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici held talks in Brussels with Greece’s chief negotiator Euclid Tsakalotos and minister of state Nikos Pappas.
Following his uncompromising stand on Friday, Tsipras has risked losing what remaining friends he had in Brussels. With European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressing open exasperation, Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis signalled a flexibility that was absent when Tsipras launched his broadside at the Greek Parliament.