EUROZONE-GREECE/TSIPRAS-JUNCKER Seeking compromise deal, Greece warns it might skip IMF payment

Record ID: 150071

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/TSIPRAS-JUNCKER Seeking compromise deal, Greece warns it might skip IMF payment
  • Date: 3rd June 2015
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JUNE 3, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENTRANCE OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION EUROGROUP PRESIDENT JEROEN DIJSSELBLOEM WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROGROUP PRESIDENT JEROEN DIJSSELBLOEM SAYING: "I think we need to do some hard work, that's all I can say." DIJSSELBLOEM WALKING INSIDE COMMISSION MOTORC
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA5L2MT549JD0EW079RIBOLJ3N
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived at the European Commission on Wednesday night (June 3) for a new round of talks about his country's debt.
    Speaking a few hours before the meeting, the Commission said it did not expect a deal immediately after the meeting.
    EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker invited Tsipras "to discuss the state of play in the negotiations between Greece and its international partners," a Commission spokesman said earlier on Wednesday.
    Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem arrived at the Commission shortly before Tsipras.
    "I think we need to do some hard work, that's all I can say," he said.
    Representatives from the ECB (European Central Bank) and IMF (International Monetary Fund) were also set to take part in the meeting.
    Greece's international creditors signalled on Wednesday they were ready to compromise to avert a default even as a defiant Athens warned it might skip an IMF loan repayment due this week.
    Tsipras agreed in a telephone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on the need for an immediate solution to the long-running debt negotiations involving a lower primary budget surplus target for Greece, a Greek official said. It was their third call in a week.
    With time running out, and looking to draw a line under four months of acrimonious negotiations, the creditors have effectively come up with a take-it-or-leave-it offer.
    However, Tsipras has produced a plan of his own and said he intended to discuss that document in Brussels, calling on euro zone partners to show some "realism" and urging a deal that would let Greece escape from "economic asphyxiation".
    Greece owes a total of about 320 billion euros, of which about 65 percent to euro zone governments and the IMF, and about 8.7 percent to the European Central Bank.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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