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Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing a real danger that the country spin out of control, the government be almost completely isolated from the partners and creditors demand measures and reforms, which go far beyond what SYRIZA can afford. Therefore, Tsipras must take a final decision in the coming days.

According to reports, the next scene of the Greek drama will probably play out at a new meeting between Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel even before the summit of EU with Latin American countries next Wednesday. Other European officials might be present there as well, e.g. French President Francois Hollande.

According to the same sources, Merkel herself mentioned the likelihood of a new meeting during a conference call shortly before midnight last Thursday. Merkel stressed before Tsipras that the time for a new agreement is running out, because if decided that the Greek programme will continue after June 30, the relevant decisions should be taken by June 14th.

Otherwise, the ratification by the German parliament will be problematic.

German government sources did not exclude the possibility of a new meeting attended by the Greek prime minister, but added that no such has been scheduled yet.

But if a compromise were to be reached between Greece and its partners, the double impasse that emerged at the meeting between Tsipras, Jean-Claude Juncker and Jeroen Dijsselbloem last Wednesday in Brussels will have to be overcome. This is what Greece was faced with at that meeting:

First, a draft agreement going well beyond all red lines of the government and a non-starter for SYRIZA ranks. And this came through not only in the reaction of Left Platform people like Panagiotis Lafazanis and Dimitris Stratoulis, but of cabinet members closer to the prime minister, as Nikos Voutsis and Panos Skourletis.

Secondly, it became perfectly clear that even if Athens accepts a compromise at this stage and votes these measures, the funding it will get in return will be very limited. As they say, under the pretext that no fresh financing to Greece can be cleared by EU parliaments given the current atmosphere, what the partners are essentially offering to Athens amounts to the existing funds, i.e. from the profits of central banks and the €11 billion, which were kept in the Financial Stability Fund contingent on Greek banks’ need of recapitalization.

Any possible other sources, as well as the talks of a new programme and a new loan will be postponed until early autumn or even next March – based on the argument that the country will be able to return to the markets at that time.

In other words, after the 20 February Eurogroup meeting, which led to the extension of the current programme without funding, Tsipras risks being caught in the same trap: to pull through a set of extremely painful measures, and after a few months face the dilemma whether to negotiate a new package of measures against additional credit or see the liquidity spigot flicked shut over again.

The prime minister’s double impasse largely explains the subsequent reactions. A meeting between Tsipras, Juncker and Dijsselbloem was scheduled for Friday to outline the plan of the agreement based on the texts of both sides, but was postponed indefinitely.

To boot, despite Athens’ assurances that the Friday instalment to the IMF would be promptly dispatched, a request to Christine Lagarde was suddenly made to bundle all June instalments into a single one at the end of the month.

This tactic of escalating pressure the government has embraced amounts to playing with fire. But according to sources, Tsipras could accept a compromise even at 5 to midnight under specific conditions.

To put it in more concrete terms, Athens seems ready to make concessions in the financial sector and specifically on the VAT matter, provided Europe spares it anything hard to bear in pensions, especially extreme measures such as the scrapping of retirement bonuses.

Furthermore, Greece makes a priority of getting a clear funding framework warding off the re-enactment of the same predicament in the fall. It also wants a palpable sign that Europe will warm to easing the Greek debt, which has been lying open since 2012.

In this volatile atmosphere, scenarios have been tossed about for early parliamentary elections fuelled by noises coming from key ministers and SYRIZA officials. But short of an agreement or even a plan leading to one, that is, amid a rift with the EU, the recourse to elections will be a cavalier move for Tsipras to make – therefore it is one he will likely seek to avoid.