Europe’s leaders told to fix Greek impasse
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN , GERMANY • European leaders attending a Group of Seven meeting were urged to resolve the standoff over Greece, in an echo of the international pressure applied at the height of the sovereign debt crisis.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper put concerns over the impasse onto the agenda of a G7 summit hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel in southern Germany, with both stressing the need to break the deadlock.
“There was unanimity of opinion in the room that it was important for Greece and their partners to chart a way forward that builds on crucial structural reforms” and returns to growth, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a briefing on the president’s 45-minute meeting with Merkel.
Harper “emphasized the importance of addressing the Greek debt crisis,” according to a statement released by his office after a working session on the world economy.
The G7 intervention raises pressure on both sides in the dispute to reach a compromise that unlocks bailout aid and brings Greece back from the edge of default, averting a possible exit from the 19-nation euro.
It comes ahead of another week of talks, as representatives of the creditor institutions and the Greek government prepare to reconvene for talks in Brussels on Monday. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is then due to attend a meeting of European Union and Latin American leaders on June 10-11, when Merkel and French President François Hollande will also be present.
“All of us were of the opinion that a whole lot of work still lies ahead,” Merkel said in an interview on ARD television. “We want to make every possible effort, but we aren’t there yet.”
The Greek government needs to seal an accord or get another extension before the euro area’s bailout of the Mediterranean nation expires June 30. Without a deal, Greece risks missing payments on its debt of about 313 billion euros (US$348 billion).
“There is obviously a deadline looming,” Earnest said. Obama “is certainly hopeful that Greece and their partners will be able to chart this path without undue volatility.”
The benchmark Athens Stock Exchange plummeted five per cent on Friday, the most since January.
The next round of diplomacy comes as Greece and its creditors can’t even agree on which of two proposals is the basis for discussion, prompting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to use uncharacteristically blunt language to signal that he was losing patience with Greece.
“I don’t have a personal problem with Alexis Tsipras,” Juncker told reporters at the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau castle. “But friendship, in order to maintain it, has to observe some minimal rules.”
Juncker said that Tsipras had misrepresented aspects of the negotiations in Parliament in Athens on Friday. In his speech to lawmakers, Tsipras decried the “clearly unrealistic” demands being made of Greece and said he hoped the latest offer from creditors to unlock bailout funds was “a bad negotiating trick.”
“I was a little bit disappointed by the speech of the Greek prime minister,” said Juncker. “He was presenting the offer of the three institutions as a leave-or-take offer. That was not the case. That was not the message given to him.”
A Greek plan, submitted about the same time, is still on the table and waiting for feedback, a Greek government official said by email on Saturday, asking not to be identified in line with policy.
Referring to reports that he refused to take a call from Tsipras on Saturday, Juncker said that Tsipras “wanted to telephone with me on Saturday, but I didn’t have this alternative proposal.”
“One needs to study it in detail before one can take a binding position on it,” he said.
Friendship, in order to maintain it, has to observe some minimal rules