Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime minister, was unable to produce the new plan when he met with his 18 eurozone counterparts in Brussels, but he promised to do so on Wednesday.
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As Europe holds its breath over Greece’s financial woes, there are serious concerns over the human cost of austerity measures in the country.
The result sent a shocked Europe scrambling for a solution to keep Greece in the euro, but there was further alarm when Tsipras and his new finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos turned up in Brussels on Tuesday without any formal debt plan. The country fiercely tightened its fiscal policy to qualify for an global bailout and to avert bankruptcy.
A Greek government official, speaking in Athens on the condition of anonymity, said the Greek proposals, once they arrived in Brussels, would be a revised version of measures submitted early last week in a letter from Tsipras to creditors.
Greece’s immediate fate is in the hands of the European Central Bank, which kept a tight funding grip on Greece’s banks on Monday in a decision that will see them run out of cash soon.
Whether such a highly technical proposal can be put forward and successfully negotiated by Sunday, before an emergency summit of all 28 European Union nations, is in some question.
“Many non-euro-member state countries have various levels of impact by the Greek crisis, most especially with banks being exposed to the Greek debt”, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in a Tuesday interview after the summit.
Greek leaders must submit detailed reform plans by tomorrow to win the fresh bailout funds the country needs to stop its banking system from collapsing, EU President Donald Tusk said after an emergency summit of Greek and eurozone leaders yesterday.
But it said Greece had to provide more collateral, a move that will make it more hard to access the vital funds in the future.
He said in his speech: ” What we are seeing in this chamber this morning and indeed across the whole of Europe is an irreconcilable cultural difference between Greece and Germany”.
There has been talk in recent weeks that Russian Federation may help Greece out financially but that has been dismissed by the Kremlin.
A sombre looking president of the European Union tonight called the crisis “the most critical moment in our history”.
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, center, leaves after a meeting with Greek political party leaders at the Presidential Palace as Minister of State Nikos Pappas, left, and Government spokesman Gabriel Sakella… Greece has had two bailouts from its European partners and the worldwide Monetary Fund since May 2010, totalling 240 billion euros ($260 billion).
The 40-year-old Greek PM is also due to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg today where he may set out further details of Greece’s plans.
A man reads a newspapers in central Athens, Greece, Wednesday, July 8, 2015.
Tsipras failed to present eurozone leaders with a viable…
“But one which gives us a sign that we are on a long-lasting basis exiting from the crisis, which will demonstrate that there’s light at the end of the tunnel”, Tsipras said. The Athens stock market remained closed, alongside the banks.
Tsipras vowed to continue reforms but warned about the austerity-weariness of the public. I’m aware of what the Greek people are going through, failing the necessary liquidity but it is a matter for the whole EU. “The money given to Greece, let’s be frank, never reached the Greek people, it was to rescue Greek and European banks”.
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Banks have been shut since last week and will not reopen before Thursday, cash withdrawals have been limited for just as long, and daily business throughout the country has almost halted.
