Photo from the meeting of the three in Riga on 21 May
Hours before the meeting of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande that the Greek government had announced, French and German sources and the European Commission have denied that it will take place.
Unnamed sources in Paris and Berlin told international news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg that "no meeting is scheduled so far in Brussels on Wednesday between Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande and Alexis Tsipras."
Financial Times correspondent Peter Spiegel also reported about rumours that no such a meeting would be held. A little later, he said that if this actually happened, the negotiations between Athens and its creditors would move to the end of the week, when the Euro Working Group will meet in Bratislava.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker refused to meet with Alexis Tsipras and spokesman Margaritis Schinas officially communicated his decision. He said that no meeting today was planned between Juncker and Tsipras for the time being.
Earlier, Greek government sources said that Athens had submitted its proposals to Commissioner Pierre Moscovici late Monday and had not received a response for them. The same sources stated the proposal was "accompanied by two additional texts with specific alternative treatments on the fiscal gap and the sustainability of the Greek debt."
The European Commission spokesman, however, denied their statements by saying that European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Pierre Moscovici yesterday afternoon informed the representatives of Greece that their latest proposals were not in line with last Wednesday’s conversation between Alexis Tsipras and Jean-Claude Juncker.
Athens responded to the information that no meeting would take place by posting a tweet on the official account of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "We are in Brussels. A meeting with Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Hector Timmerman is currently underway," reads the text with a photograph of the discussion attached below it. Commentators in the Greek social networks did not miss the opportunity to suggest that Argentina’s Minister perhaps had shared the experience of President de la Rua, who was forced to leave the presidential residence by helicopter to avoid the popular anger that followed the bankruptcy of the country.
Later, government sources in Athens specified that Alexis Tsipras would meet with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande at 10:00 pm, after the dinner within the context of the European Union summit with Latin American and Caribbean countries.
A statement by a spokeswoman for Angela Merkel followed who said that "the Chancellor has no plans to meet with Mr. Tsipras but could do so if he requested it."
According to European sources, Jean-Claude Juncker reacted very harshly to the new proposals of Athens. He angrily said that "Such behaviour is unacceptable in the European Union." The same sources indicate that if there is no flexibility on the part of Athens no meeting between Tsipras, Merkel and Hollande will take place.