|
 Athens said it was waiting for the creditors to respond to ideas it
put forward on Monday. Euro zone officials said the proposals were
inadequate to plug holes in the Greek budget and also dodged key
reforms to make the economy more competitive.
Without an agreement to unlock more aid money, Greece risks default.
"The Greek government has submitted its proposal to the
institutions, along with two supplementary documents with specific
alternatives on the fiscal gap and the sustainability of Greek debt
... So far, there has been no comment or response to the Greek
representation in Brussels," a Greek official said in a statement.
Athens is likely to default on a 1.6 billion euro repayment due to
the International Monetary Fund at the end of June unless it
receives fresh funds from its frozen bailout or the European Central
Bank lets it sell more short-term debt to Greek banks.
That will only happen if the two sides can agree in the coming days
on a cash-for-reform deal that has been the focus of acrimonious
negotiations for the last four months.
A default could lead to the imposition of capital controls and
possibly put Greece on a path to becoming the first country to leave
the 19-nation single currency area, undermining the euro's avowed
irreversibility.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois
Hollande had been due to meet Tsipras on the sidelines of an EU-Latin
America summit in Brussels to move the debt talks forward, but a
French source said nothing was arranged so far.
"No meeting is planned at this stage - we'll see what happens when
we get there," the source said.
The European Commission said its chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, who
accused Tsipras on Sunday of misrepresenting the creditors'
proposals and misleading his parliament, had no plans as yet to meet
the Greek premier either.
"For this final push, the Commission is of the view that the ball is
now clearly in the court of the Greek government which needs to
follow up on the agreement at the meeting with President Juncker
last Wednesday night," spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news
conference.
An EU official said the Greeks had made no advance since submitting
a three-page proposal on Monday viewed as insufficient because it
did not address pension reform or labor market measures sought by
the creditors.
"If there is no movement, there is no meeting," the official said.
DEBT RELIEF SOUGHT
For its part, Greece appears to be insisting it will not sign any
deal unless it contains a commitment to official debt relief, while
the creditors say they will only start discussing debt rescheduling
once a deal is signed and implemented.
The brinkmanship carries risks for both sides.
The EU official said the Greek proposal on fiscal targets did not
address how Athens would arrive at them. The primary surplus targets
were also marginally below those requested by the creditors.
[to top of second column] |
Athens also sent in a document on debt restructuring, which the
creditors dismissed as irrelevant now because Greek debt
sustainability could only be assessed once it implements reforms
promised in exchange for aid it has already received.
After European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met Tsipras
on June 3, the Commission asked Greece to put forward alternatives
to the creditors' proposals it rejected on pensions and Value Added
Tax.
While more talks between Athens and the institutions could take
place on Wednesday, the creditors say it is now impossible to
disburse the remainder of the money available to Greece under the
existing bailout -- 7.2 billion euros -- without a formal extension
of the bailout beyond its June 30 expiry date.
Financial markets have taken the Greek debt impasse in their stride,
with little impact on euro zone bonds and stocks other than Greek
financial instruments, even in a stressful period for government
bonds globally.
In the past two months, as bond yields jumped worldwide due to
improving inflation and growth expectations, the gap between
benchmark German Bund yields and Italian, Spanish or Portuguese
borrowing costs over 10 years has widened only slightly.
EU officials say the euro zone has put in place institutions since
the start of the Greek crisis in 2010 with a financial rescue fund,
a single banking supervisor and resolution system and better enforce
fiscal rules that would prevent contagion to other peripheral states
if Athens were to leave the euro.
Some market specialists are less certain.
"If Greece does exit then it is possible that all hell breaks loose
and that risk assets and peripheral government bonds suffer," said
Gary Jenkins, chief credit strategist at LNG Capital.
"However the least likely outcome is that Greece leaves and that the
Eurozone takes no measures to stop speculation that it might fall
apart."
(Additional reporting by Deepa Babington in Athens and Marius
Zaharia in London; Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Janet McBride)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
