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It seems that, aiming to achieve an agreement, the European Commission and the European Central Bank are discussing a Greek debt relief plan, which is the main demand of Alexis Tsipras’ government.

Shortly before the Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg began, the newspaper Kathimerini cited a senior European official without disclosing his name. According to him, the most probable scenario that is under consideration for the time being is to convene an emergency summit of the euro area member states on Thursday evening, 25 June, after the general summit scheduled for the same day that will face a heavy agenda at that.

According to the publication, the goal is not to allow the Greek issue to overshadow other major topics that are to be discussed, such as Brexit and migration policy. Simultaneously, one week will have passed from today's Eurogroup meeting and no other meeting will have taken place during it, which will allow exerting more pressure on the Greek side.

According to the senior source, the European Commission and the European Central Bank are currently considering the text that will affect the debt issue if an agreement is reached. It is a renewal of the debt relief deal that the Greek side had negotiated during the Eurogroup meeting in November 2012, when Yiannis Stournaras was Minister of Finance.

However, according to the same source, capital controls would only be imposed if capital flight reached alarming levels over the coming days.

Batista’s proposal of compromise at the International Monetary Fund

Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund for Brazil Paulo Nogueira Batista spoke before the same newspaper and presented a proposal of compromise to break the deadlock. He defined it as a proposal of "common sense," stating that he had presented it on Monday, during the meeting of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund that was dedicated to the European economy.

Batista’s proposal provides for a transitional solution.

According to him, Greece would commit to the following:

• Achieve small and slowly rising primary surpluses over the next few years.

• Explain in detail the measures it will take to achieve these surpluses.

• Present its plans for a partial financial and structural package of measures that could include reforms in the public sector administration, fighting tax evasion, increasing the tax authorities, some privatizations deals and perhaps some less controversial reforms associated with the market and the social security system.

In return, the institutions of creditors would do the following:

• Extend the talks by 4-6 months, allocating at the same time an amount that would allow Greece to meet its obligations to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank without further losses in its financial reserves or other extraordinary measures.

• Possibly allocate part of the amount in question before 30 June.

• Possibly agree to restructure the Greek debt with the European official creditors in the future, if Greece would comply with what would be negotiated over the coming months.

Batista represents Brazil and another 10 developing countries in the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund but he spoke as a private person before the newspaper Kathimerini. It points out that although he is known for his criticism of the Greek rescue programme, senior officials at the International Monetary Fund determined the proposals he presented on Monday as ‘productive’ and shared his anxiety from the emerging impasse in the negotiations with Greece.