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The Greek Prime Minister responds to the increasing pressure on striking a deal with the words, "The dilemma is now in the hands of our partners." Thus, he states that the European leaders are already called to decide whether they want realism and to emerge from the crisis, or the division of Europe. Alexis Tsipras adds that Athens submitted on Monday its proposals to the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission.

During his visit to the Ministry of Education Tsipras said that Athens "is negotiating in compliance with a preliminary plan, strategy and proposals" and that the conditions of the negotiations are unfavourable. "The whole of Greece knows the difference between a government that negotiates and the previous one that just signed what it was wanted to sign. Greeks must be proud, regardless of what party they support," said Tsipras. "Greece has submitted its proposals, we have made concessions as is normal in negotiations, but we have proposed a realistic plan for the country to emerge from the crisis. The day after the negotiations will be difficult but what the Greek people want is for the government to overcome difficulties in conditions of equality and justice. The end of negotiations will mean an end to the division of Europe. It is now clear that the decision as to whether they want to follow realism and emerge from the crisis without the division of Europe is in the hands of the European leaders. This is not only a Greek problem, it is a European and global problem. The dilemma is between a realistic choice to emerge from the crisis or to divide Europe. The government is acting according to plan and with determination, leaning on the majority of the Greek people who want a solution to the crisis, rather than for the country to return to the past with its memoranda and obedience."

Still no proposal to Athens

Refuting the respective rumours, close associates of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras state that he has not received any proposal from the opposite side, and that neither he nor any other senior Greek leader has spoken on the phone with a representative of the creditors.

Simultaneously, the Greek team in the Brussels group is in a state of readiness, although it has not yet received a notification of the resumption of negotiations that Athens expected to start early today. The government sources believe that the delay is due to the differences on the specific parameters of the negotiations, which the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund have not yet settled.

Freezing the work of the Brussels group

The talks between Athens and the creditors at the Brussels group level have been frozen since Saturday and the Greek government has laid all its hopes in a political decision.

According to sources, the two sides in the negotiations had major disagreements, little progress was made, and senior negotiators note that the Greek officials were not authorized to further proceed with the talks.

Indicative is the fact that, according to sources, the gap between the two parties with regard to the financial issues amounts to 2 billion euro. More precisely, the creditors wanted measures worth two billion euro more compared to those presented by the government. In this connection, the Greek envoys were not authorized to discuss more measures and the situation with other key issues was similar.