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The European Commission for the first time threatens Greece with Grexit

18 March 2015 / 15:03:42  GRReporter
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The European Union will not keep Greece in the euro zone at any price, EU Economic and Monetary Commissioner Pierre Moscovici warns in an interview for Germany's Die Welt. He points out that, despite the desire of the Eurogroup for Greece to remain in the system of the common European currency, there is always the danger of "economic accidents."

"We will not keep Greece in the euro zone at any price but only under strict conditions that are acceptable to both sides," Moscovici states, adding that a possible third bailout programme to the country will have to be different from the previous two.

At the same time, representative of the European Commission in the supervisory Troika Declan Costello has sent a warning letter to the Greek government in which he defines the bills on the "humanitarian crisis" and the deferred payment of tax liabilities in 100 instalments as unilateral action.

In the document that the British television Channel 4 and journalist Paul Mason have disclosed, Costello argues that both bills are totally "inconsistent" with the agreement reached in the Eurogroup on 20 February.

The representative of the European Commission calls on the Greek side to hold "proper consultations" before submitting the bills for voting and stresses that Athens must show consistency in terms of reforms.

According to Costello, the Greek government and the institutions (lenders) should discuss "several issues" in connection with the planning of a comprehensive framework for reforms. In his words, the two bills are "piecemeal" actions.

The bills in question are particularly important to the office of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks, as they contain the pre-election promises that brought the electoral victory of the radical left.

Despite the reactions of the lenders, the government in Athens has submitted the bill on the "humanitarian crisis" to parliament for voting and urged all parties to support its adoption.

In addition, the refusal of Athens to submit to the technical teams more details on the reforms in Greece made its lenders angry during last night's teleconference meeting of the Euro Working Group. It was held in order to update the information on the state of Greece, "which is running out of time and cash to trigger the negotiations and push the reforms that could "unfreeze" the loans to prevent a possible bankruptcy."

According to three sources referred to by Reuters, instead of giving information, a Greek official told the participants in the meeting that these issues would be the subject of a conversation between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the other EU leaders at the summit in Brussels.

Two sources claim that one of the participants in the teleconference compared the refusal of Greece to submit data to the lenders with the "riding of a dead horse." Another one said that the talks were leading to a dead end.

In comments to the agency, the European representatives indicated that they did not realize on what exactly Greece put its hopes by directing the negotiations to the upcoming summit, since the topic was not on the agenda.

According to the same sources, EU leaders can offer Alexis Tsipras nothing more than the euro zone finance ministers have offered. They are adamant that the provision of any financial aid to Athens will be inextricably linked to the reforms that the Greek government will have to implement.

In turn, government sources in Athens report that Brussels has accepted the request of Athens for a 6-party meeting within the context of the summit. According to them, it will involve German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

The Greek commentators define this meeting as "crucial to the future of Greece after the unsuccessful completion of consultations between the technical teams of the lenders and the Greek authorities in Athens."

In this anyway difficult situation, the representatives of the three institutions, lenders to Greece, believe that it will be able to continue to pay its debts for a few more weeks. The representatives of the International Monetary Fund have even said to Bloomberg that Greece is the most non-cooperating state in the 70-year history of the Fund, adding that the behaviour of Athens to its official lenders is unacceptable.

What is the mood in Greece itself? Political commentator Yannis Koutsomitis answers, "All these things are clear and those who have been following the course of events expect them. The big question is whether the Greek people are aware of how critical the situation is. Will the government explain to the people what the stake is and will Mr Tsipras inform the parliament before leaving for Brussels to "negotiate" on the country's future?"

Tags: PoliticsGreek governmentLendersTechnical teamsTalksEU SummitBrusselsIMFAlexis TsiprasBills
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