The meeting of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with the heads of creditor institutions ended without an agreement. Now the baton is in the hands of euro zone finance ministers who will have to consider two different proposals at the meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm, half an hour later than previously announced.
According to the Greek government sources, Athens will present the document that it had submitted on Monday but with minor amendments. In turn, the creditors will present a document that will contain the issues on which the parties may agree. A European source specifies for the newspaper Kathimerini that the meeting will consider the differences between the two sides whereas the EU summit tonight will take place in a negative atmosphere towards Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and he will be under pressure.
Athens indicates that the Greek side will be demanding in terms of its positions "that were adopted as a basis for negotiations a few days ago." The same government sources say that the proposals have been "specified and presented to creditor institutions and will be submitted to the authorities of the European Union."
"Our proposals represent a highly realistic attempt to immediately reach an agreement in the spirit of the Eurogroup decision of 20 February. The Greek government has demonstrated responsibility and a will to find a solution. Now is the time to assess the responsibility and the will of all."
According to sources, the proposal of creditors includes changes in VAT rates to achieve revenue of 1.8% of GDP, pension reform and moderate changes in labour legislation, the application of which can shift over time, cancellation of early retirement, more moderate taxation in the agricultural sector and three reforms in the product markets, which are specified in the reform package that the Greek government has already submitted. The Financial Times correspondent Peter Spiegel has published the proposal of creditors that is available here.
According to the correspondents in Brussels, today’s six-hour meeting between Alexis Tsipras and the heads of creditor institutions took place in a very tense atmosphere and the Greek Prime Minister frequently interrupted it to take advice from his aides. IMF chief Christine Lagarde further hardened her position during the talks. It is worth noting that Germany is adamant that the approval of the agreement by the IMF is essential for its acceptance.
In comments to Kathimerini correspondent in Brussels Eleni Varvitsioti, a European representative states that there are no major differences between the proposals of Athens and the creditors. At the same time, some of the euro zone finance ministers are reserved. One of them is Germany’s Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble who said that the differences between Greece and the creditors were not great and stressed that two different proposals would be considered. The German newspaper Spiegel reports that there has been an "apparent progress" in negotiations, indicating that the deadline for reaching an agreement is this coming Sunday.