EUROZONE-GREECE/VAROUFAKIS-MARKET REAX Greeks say time to clinch deal ahead of EU meeting

Record ID: 150113

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/VAROUFAKIS-MARKET REAX Greeks say time to clinch deal ahead of EU meeting
  • Date: 3rd June 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JUNE 3, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF GREEK FINANCE MINISTRY SIGN ON BUILDING'S FACADE READING (GREEK): 'FINANCE MINISTRY' GREEK FINANCE MINISTER YANIS VAROUFAKIS ON HIS MOTORBIKE AFTER ARRIVING AT FINANCE MINISTRY/JOURNALISTS AND CAMERAS SURROUNDING HIM AND ASKING QUESTIONS ON THE PROGRESS AND EXPECTATIONS REGARDING THE ONGOING TALKS AND MEETINGS BETWEEN GRE
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA456I0HG7U0G1VIX186GDI4WFU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Reporters and cameras awaited Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis outside the ministry's entrance on Wednesday (June 3), trying to secure a comment on the progress made on the ongoing talks among Greece and its international creditors.
    Despite the storm of questions asked by journalists, the usually outspoken minister declined to make any comments as he tried to break through the swarm of media and enter the ministry.
    Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday called on international creditors to show "realism" and help clinch a deal that will end speculation of the country leaving the euro zone.
    Tsipras said he was travelling to Brussels later on Wednesday to discuss the Greek proposal to end the standoff with lenders, adding that was necessary that the institutions, and mainly the political leadership of Europe, adopt the "realism" that the Greek side has been showing for the past three months.
    With a Euro Working Group meeting taking place later in the day, and hours before a crucial meeting between Tsipras and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Greek citizens in the capital of Athens shared the media's agony on whether a deal was finally in reach for the debt-laden country.
    Pensioner Yannis Economou said it was time for an agreement but called on Tsipras to keep a hard stance during his meetings with Juncker and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem and not back down from the government's red lines.
    "This issue must close now, once and for all, we must set our conditions and they (Greece's EU and IMF lenders) can take it or leave it. We will not be bullied by other countries, we are not under occupation. We have a prime minister, the Greek people have elected him. These are our proposals, take it or leave it," said 73-year-old Economou.
    Another Athens resident, 70-year-old Nikos Iakovides, warned leftist Prime Minister Tsipras that the people had reached their limits and asked for an honorable compromise.
    "I think we have reached our limits and now it's now it's time to give an end to this. A mutually beneficial solution must be found," said retired public servant Iakovides.
    Mathematician Polichronis, said a deal with Greece's creditors must be signed immediately and at all costs as the government had already damaged the country's economy after four months of ongoing talks.
    "He (Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras) must sign a deal quickly. Very quickly, this cannot go on," said the 62 year-old.
    In the Brussels meeting, which is to start in the evening, also taking part will be representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- the institutions negotiating with Greece on behalf of the international creditors.
    Greece's creditors on Tuesday (June 2) drafted the broad lines of an agreement to put to the leftist government in Athens in a bid to conclude four months of acrimonious negotiations and release aid before the cash-strapped country runs out of money.
    The joint effort by the EU Commission, the ECB and the IMF to set out the terms for a cash-for-reforms deal came after the leaders of Germany and France held emergency talks with those institutions in Berlin on Monday night to press the lenders to bridge their own differences and find a solution.
    Tsipras, who has vowed not to surrender to more austerity, tried to pre-empt a take-it-or-leave-it offer by the creditors, sending what he called a comprehensive reform proposal to Brussels on Monday before they could complete their version.
    Despite defiant rhetoric and face-saving efforts, he seems likely to have to swallow painful pension and labour reforms, facing the choice between putting them to parliament at the risk of a revolt in his Syriza party or calling a snap referendum.
    Starved of aid and access to bond markets, Athens is precipitously close to running out of money. It has threatened to default on an IMF payment this week without a deal, though it also says it will reject any ultimatums.
    Failure to reach agreement this month could trigger a Greek default and lead to the imposition of capital controls and a potential exit from the euro zone, dealing a serious blow to Europe's supposedly irreversible single currency.
    A Greek government official said Athens would make a 300 million euro ($329.58 million) repayment to the IMF on Friday as due if there was an agreement with the creditors, hinting it might otherwise withhold the money without saying so explicitly.
    Greece has received two EU/IMF bailouts totaling 240 billion euros since 2010, when it lost access to capital markets after admitting it had issued erroneous figures for years concealing the true scale of its budget deficit.
    The Greek stock market was relatively flat, in a mood of anticipation for the outcome of the talks.
    Greek 10-year yields fell 15 basis points on Wednesday to 11.27 percent.
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