The Minister of Finances Yanis Varoufakis met with the president of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem prior to the commencement of today’s proceedings in Brussels. The preparatory meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, with Greek media reporting a “heavy climate” for Greece in Brussels.
Government sources suggest that Mr. Varoufakis and government VP Yannis Dragasakis will request that Greece be given time (via a “bridge program”) until June, by which point Greece will have prepared a program to succeed the current one. This bridge program though, the two Greek officials will stress, should not include measures that further burden the budget.
The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici stated that the council is striving for a positive outcome in the Greek case. The latest rumors suggest that the Eurogroup will make a compromising proposal, which will include an extension of the current plan and breaking up the final 7.2-billion-euro tranche into smaller portions that would be paid out according to the implementation of reforms and cuts.
The Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jörg Schelling commented on Austrian radio that aside from time Greece also needs money and that the Eurozone cannot negotiate a new program unless the current reform program concludes.
