EUROZONE-GREECE/ECOFIN ARRIVALS Britain's Osborne and France's Sapin hope for Greece deal at Monday's emergency euro summit

Record ID: 151752

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/ECOFIN ARRIVALS Britain's Osborne and France's Sapin hope for Greece deal at Monday's emergency euro summit
  • Date: 19th June 2015
  • Summary: LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG (JUNE 19, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUILDING WHERE EU FINANCE MINISTERS ARE MEETING FLAGS OF EU MEMBER STATES BRITISH CHANCELLOR, GEORGE OSBORNE, WALKING OVER TO SPEAK TO JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Luxembourg
  • Country: Luxembourg
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA478AO8CM20TVW53MKCGZH6TR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: British Finance Minister George Osborne urged Greece on Friday (June 19) to strike a deal with its international creditors in loans-for-reforms talks, saying Britain was hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
    Speaking as he arrived for a meeting of the European Union's finance ministers in Luxembourg, Osborne told reporters they had entered the 11th hour of the Greek crisis.
    "We hope for best but we now must be prepared for the worst, and in the United Kingdom we've taken the measures to increase our economic security so we can deal with risks like this from abroad and clearly we must now go on and complete that plan," he said.
    Eurozone finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, failed to make any breakthrough on a cash-for-reforms agreement at talks in Luxembourg on Thursday (June 18), just 12 days before Greece must make a crucial debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund.
    Leaders from across the eurozone will hold an emergency summit on Monday to try to avert a Greek default after bank withdrawals accelerated and government revenue slumped. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said there is work ahead, including at a further Eurogroup meeting ahead of the emergency summit.
    "This work must be committed, this work must be serious, this work must be confident and it's on the basis of this work that Monday we can come to a credible, solid and long-lasting agreement," he said.
    Greek savers pulled out some 2 billion euros between Monday and Wednesday after weekend negotiations collapsed in Brussels, senior banking sources told Reuters. That is double the amount that the European Central Bank granted Greek banks in extra emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) this week.
    The IMF dashed any hope that Athens could avert default if it fails to repay a 1.6 billion euro ($1.8 billion) loan by the end of June, piling pressure on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who shows no sign of yielding to the lenders.
    Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos said the crisis was different to those faced across the euro bloc in previous years.
    "This is not about contagion like it was for example in 2010, 2011, 2012. This is completely different. This is about the future of the eurozone. The stakes are higher and it affect us all," he said as he arrived for Friday's meeting.
    Tsipras, elected on a promise to end austerity, is demanding a "political level" bargain in which European creditors promise Greece debt relief before he will make any more concessions.
    But the deposit flight and revenue slump may force him to climb down, with the Greek central bank warning of economic catastrophe if Greece defaults and leaves the eurozone.
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