Dijsselbloem: 'Very small' chance of Greece deal on Thursday

[June 17, 2015]  By Toby Sterling

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The chance is "very small" that a deal will be reached with Greece when Eurogroup finance ministers meet on Thursday to try to finalize an aid-for reforms agreement, the group's president said.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a Dutch parliamentary committee on Wednesday the Eurogroup remains opposed to writing off Greek debt, an option which has been considered by the International Monetary Fund, and warned that even in the case of a default, "it (the debt) will not go away."

Greece is running out of time and must submit counter proposals by Thursday, when the Eurogroup meets in Luxembourg, he said.

Athens is set to default on a 1.6 billion euro ($1.80 billion) debt repayment to the IMF on June 30 unless it receives fresh funds by then, possibly driving it toward the exit of the euro zone, but relations with its creditors are bitter.

"If they don’t come, we can’t assess them," he said, adding that the aim of negotiations is "still to keep Greece within the Eurozone".

Earlier on Wednesday, Dijsselbloem proposed delaying the election of his successor as head of the Eurogroup, which had been expected on Thursday, until July, to allow attention to remain focused on Greece.

"Greece requires all attention," Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister, wrote in a tweet. "The election should not lead to debate on procedures."

Dijsselbloem, who has played a central role in negotiations between Greece and its creditors, is running for a fresh 30-month term, but he faces stiff competition from his Spanish counterpart Luis De Guindos, seen as the candidate of the southern countries hardest hit by the eurozone debt crisis.

Speaking as he headed into a Dutch parliamentary debate before Thursday's planned gathering of the Eurogroup, Dijsselbloem said time was running short for a deal between Greece and its creditors.

"It's up to the Greeks to present a number of alternatives," he told reporters. "The things they don't want they have made abundantly clear. That means they will have to present other, alternative proposals."

(Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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