Thursday’s Eurogroup meeting in Brussels did not result in any agreement, other than for a new Eurogroup meeting to be arranged on Saturday, in an effort to reach an agreement by Monday.
While the reform proposals submitted by the Greek side on Monday were welcomed as a basis for further discussion, the institutions presented their own counter-proposal with further demands. The Eurogroup meeting started about an hour late, with Greece’s creditors however refusing to consider the latest Greek proposal.
Despite the deadlock though, there is confidence that an agreement can be reached over the weekend, with a government official stating that the latest Greek proposal is a “absolutely realistic approach” for an immediate agreement, within the spirit of the Eurogroup decision.
During Thursday’s summit, the European Council president Donald Tusk reportedly told Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that the “game is over”, with the Prime Minister responding that in Greece there are 1.5 million unemployed, 3 million poor and thousands of families without any income, barely surviving on a grandparent’s pension. Mr. Tsipras told him not to underestimate to what lengths a people might go when they feel humiliated.
