Greece at the abyss: Sunday deadline to decide euro vs. ‘Plan B’

Will July 12 be the day Greece leaves the European Union?

European Council President Donald Tusk said that now was “the most critical moment in the history of the eurozone” as the Greek government has been given until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors. “The final deadline ends this week,” he said after emergency talks in Brussels on Tuesday.

The SYRIZA government did not table written proposals as had been expected, saying those will be submitted on Wednesday. The country was given an ultimatum to reach a deal at the EU summit by Sunday or to let its battered and closed banks go bust on Monday.

Despite a lack of written proposals, new Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, a mild-mannered academic, welcomed by eurozone leaders, who predicted a more conciliatory and modest interlocutor than his brash predecessor, Yanis Varoufakis.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stated his desire for a “final exit from the crisis” (not the European Union), but he will only agree to a “socialy just and economically viable agreement” and hopes for reforms in return for funding commitments.

French President Francois Hollande said that Greece will have minimum liquidity from the European Central Bank until Sunday – the new final deadline and this time, with Greece on the brink, it really does seem “final”.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann warned that no deal would mean preparation for “Plan B” (code for Greece losing all access to euros).

Noteworthy is the fact that Tusk has called an emergency meeting of the full EU, rather than just eurozone leaders because the repercussions of a Grexit would have a negative political and economic impact on the entire European Union.