The government and EU partners are giving different interpretations concerning the agreement reached at the February 20 meeting at Eurogroup. Berlin and Brussels are pressuring Athens to agree to the Memorandum of Understanding and the Greek program and are urging the Greek government to meet with groups to review the Greek program. Exploiting the fact that Athens is in dire economic straits while trying to meet payments for March, pressure is beig amped. On March 6, the Greek government needs to find funds to pay off the end of T-bonds worth 1.4 billion euros and to pay off 310 million euros to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Greece is being bombarded with reminders of its commitments on all fronts. It comes as no coincidence that Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble threatened Greece with insolvency if it doesn’t meet its obligations, the IMF refered to a credit event whereas the European Stability Mechanism Chief Klaus Regling also refered to the existence of the Memorandum. At the same time, the European Commission is pressuring the Greek government to meet with representatives from the troika of international creditors on Wednesday.

The Greek government is withstanding pressure and the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) is compiling specific proposals to present to the Eurogroup on Monday. The government pledged to end Memorandums following its victory on the January 25 elections. Government sources state that they will not receive groups of international creditors. Greece and EU institutions are currently involved in a game of ‘cat and mouse’ with both sides trying to gain ground during a very difficult financial quarter for Greece.