A hastily arranged meeting of eurozone finance ministers, which will be Euclid Tsakalotos’ first as Greek finance minister, is slated for the afternoon in Brussels.
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras heads to Brussels on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to secure a rescue from European leaders and keep his country in the euro region. ” “Speaking with a threatening tone on Sunday, he claimed that the outcome of the Greek referendum “… is very regrettable for the future of Greece”. No one has access to their safe deposit boxes either, where some Greeks are thought to have stashed cash savings.
“You know, there was a promise for today. Then, they’re promising for tomorrow”, said Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.
Tsipras scored a bigger than expected win in Sunday’s bailout referendum, with 61 percent of voters rejecting the economic measures creditors had proposed in exchange for loans Greece needs to remain afloat, including further cuts to pensions.
There was a kind of smug gloating over early polls showing that a majority of Greeks planned to vote “Yes” to accepting whatever the banks and the European Union demanded, or later, when it appeared that the vote would be close. “Yes to a New Europe, founded on work and respect for the People”, Matteo Salvini, the party’s leader wrote on Facebook (in Italian).
“I’m extremely sombre about this summit”. It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms.
European leaders must decide whether they can negotiate with Tsipras, who blindsided them by walking out of talks on June 26 to call the referendum, or prepare for the first departure from the currency bloc founded 16 years ago.
A second Greek official said: “The Greek government came with the proposals which hadn’t been discussed by the Eurogroup last week”.
“Everybody was raging”, said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was commenting on a closed meeting.
The resignation of the outspoken Varoufakis, an admirer of game theorist John F Nash whose life was documented in the 2001 film “A handsome Mind”, could be seen as a deliberate move to strengthen the hand of Greek negotiators in the debt talks, some analysts said.
But the spending restraint demanded as a condition for the loans hurt economic growth, and reforms to make Greece more business-friendly have been slower than hoped.
European officials are split on the issue, with lead eurozone lender Germany still reluctant.
“The door is open to negotiations, but there isn’t much time left and the situation is urgent both for Greece and for Europe”, French President Francois Hollande said in a joint media appearance with Ms. Merkel in Paris. Banks have been shuttered for over a week and cash withdrawals have been limited to 60 euros a day.
Greece’s banks remain shut and only emergency lending can stave off insolvency. Small businesses, lacking use of credit cards or money from bank accounts, were left to rely on cash coming from diminishing purchases from customers.
The talks – and uncertainty that brought them on – already have taken a toll on everyday Greeks.
Giorgos Kafkaris, a 77-year-old pensioner, was among Greeks standing in line to withdraw cash at an Athens ATM on Tuesday.
Any support Athens does receive is likely to come from France and Italy which have used more conciliatory rhetoric this week. “The good thing is we had sorted things out earlier and we had 200-300 euros set aside”, he said.
FXCM Israel says in its market review this morning, “There is no doubt that we face a new and fateful stage in the Greek crisis”. “I believe something better will happen”, he said. Varoufakis was replaced with Euclid Tsakalotos, a long-time ally of Tsipras.
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The euro fell 0.3 per cent to $1.1005 but held well above Monday’s low of $1.0967.
