Wolfgang Schaeuble, finance minister of its biggest creditor Germany and a veteran stickler for the EU’s fiscal rules, said negotiations would be “exceptionally difficult”.
Advertisement
“We have to vote yes”, said Harry Theoharis, a member of the new To Potami centrist party.
If a deal is not reached, Greece would be pushed out of the euro currency bloc, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
The German Finance Ministry declined to comment on the report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
‘Can the Greek government be trusted to do what they are promising in coming weeks, months and years?’.
“Now I have the feeling we’ve reached the demarcation line”, he said. “On both content and the more complicated question of trust, even if it’s all good on paper the question is whether it will get off the ground and will it happen …”
“We must admit, on the other hand, that what they are asking of us is hard”.
Greek lawmakers have approved a government motion seeking authorization for reform proposals as a basis for negotiations for a third bailout in talks with worldwide creditors this weekend.
He told the Greek parliament the referendum result had strengthened the government’s hand in seeking a new deal. Helsinki’s stance has hardened since the populist Finns Party joined a right-wing coalition that took office in May.
“The three institutions have made a first joint assessment of the Greek reform proposals submitted Thursday night”.
The country has had two bailouts worth 240 billion euros from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund since 2010, but its economy has shrunk by a quarter, unemployment is at more than 25 percent and one in two young people is out of work.
The influx is creating “an unprecedented refugee emergency” at a time when Greece is financially unable to cope, said William Spindler, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
He said he was confident Greece would be permitted to roll over a debt of 27 billion euros ($30 billion) in bonds held by the European Central Bank to the ESM, helping to reduce the cost to the government.
Speaking earlier in the debate which began just before midnight Friday, Tsipras acknowledged the reforms his government has proposed were harsh and include measures far from his party’s election pledges, but insisted they were Greece’s best chance to emerge from its financial crisis.
Bank closures in Greece have been extended until Monday and Greeks are limited to withdrawing just 60 euro (£43) per day after the imposition of capital controls.
“I see a huge problem with DSA (debt sustainability analysis), so long-term sustainability of the Greek debt”.
Ahead of Saturday’s meeting of the eurogroup, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin met separately with the eurozone’s top official, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, according to another French official. However, she faces stiff opposition among her own conservatives. Without a deal, they would have to discuss how to contain the fallout a Greek bankruptcy would have on the wider European economy.
But in an ominous sign for the stability of the government, 10 members on the ruling benches abstained or voted against the measures and another seven were absent, leaving Tsipras short of the 151 seats needed for a majority of his own.
Prominent leftwingers in the governing Syriza party signalled before the vote that they could not support the mix of tax hikes and spending cuts proposed by Tsipras, following the rejection of similar austerity measures by voters in Sunday’s referendum.
“The government is being totally blackmailed”, Constantopoulou said. Experts said it was unlikely, even in the event of a deal, that limits on cash withdrawals and transfers would be lifted completely for some time.
Following the vote, where many leftists in his own party were stunned by his acceptance of previously spurned austerity measures, Tsipras said he would now focus on securing a deal.
France, Greece’s strongest supporter in the euro zone, rushed to offer praise.
Any new deal would also have to be endorsed by national Parliaments including in Germany.
Advertisement
Greeks overwhelmingly voted in a referendum last Sunday to reject previous austerity demands from global creditors in exchange for a new aid programme to replace the agreement that expired on June 30.
