/ world today news/ Europe is preparing an action plan for Greece, as fears are growing that the country is headed for insolvency and exit from the eurozone.
On Sunday, another round of talks between the creditors and Athens in Brussels failed, and yesterday both sides continued to harden their positions. The EU has decided to implement an “emergency plan” to avoid a banking panic in Greece if the country fails to reach an agreement with the Troika creditors by the end of this week, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper claims.
The plan aims to prepare “financial flow controls” from Greece to prevent capital flight. If talks aimed at saving Greece from default remain deadlocked, from next week Greek banks will de facto be closed for several days to prepare for this curb on transactions, which must also be approved by the Greek parliament . As a result, cash withdrawals from ATMs, as well as electronic payments related to Greece, may also be restricted. Panic is clearly starting to grow in the country, as 600 million euros were withdrawn from the banks in just one day on Monday, the “Reporter” publication claims. This is 2.5 times more than the amounts withdrawn on Friday.
Yesterday, both creditors and Athens continued to show reluctance to make more concessions on a possible deal that could save Greece from bankruptcy. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he did not plan to present any new reform proposals at Thursday’s Eurogroup meeting. In an interview with Bild, Varoufakis again called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to give his country a “speech of hope” and signal that Europe is ready to give up its demands for austerity measures. Merkel herself, however, expressed doubt about whether Greece and its creditors could reach an agreement at a meeting of finance ministers on Thursday. An emergency summit is likely to be held on Sunday after the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg with the aim of reaching an agreement between Greece and its creditors, AFP reported yesterday, citing unnamed European sources. Yesterday, “Bild” also wrote that the Greek government intends not to pay the tranches due in June to the IMF, as agreed earlier. The tranche in the amount of EUR 1.55 billion can be postponed by up to six months. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras himself hinted at such a possibility. Against the backdrop of concerns about Greece’s exit from the Eurozone, Greek bonds continued to fall for the third day in a row yesterday.
Tsipras: Creditors want to humiliate us
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said yesterday that creditors are trying to “humiliate” his government. In a speech to MPs from his SYRIZA party, in which there are hardliners declaring themselves firmly against a deal with the Troika, the prime minister expressed his conviction that the creditors’ (EU, ECB and IMF) insistence on additional savings is politically motivated, Reuters reported. Tsipras has said he wants a deal to end talk of Greece leaving the eurozone, but insisted his government was brought to power to end austerity.
Tsipras did not “regret” the IMF either, accusing it of “criminal responsibility” for the Greek debt crisis. “The time has come for the IMF’s proposals to be evaluated not only by us, but by Europe. The IMF has criminal responsibility” for today’s situation, Tsipras said.
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