Financial Times’ offers a gloomier outlook this week on the so-called “Greek issue”, with a headline of “Greece falling short of debt deal”, and with the sub-hed adding: “SYRIZA administration is running out of cheap money and good ideas”!

According to the influential FT:

“For a government struggling to make a repayment to the International Monetary Fund this week, Greece’s Syriza administration has a remarkably lax attitude to negotiating with its creditors. Last week, Athens sent the latest, painfully slow, iteration of a reform programme to eurozone governments, the IMF and the European Central Bank, asking for its bailout to continue.

“The letter was at least fuller and more rational than previous attempts. But it still fell short of a comprehensive agreement that will allow Greece to set out long-term plans and be granted debt relief without the perpetual threat of bankruptcy hanging over it.”

The opinion piece then uses the term “quixotic” and “counterproductive”.

“… The quixotic was the notion that a clampdown on offshore tax avoidance — a perfectly sound idea in itself — could raise between €725m and €875m this year. The counterproductive was the announcement that the government would backtrack on some of its labour market reforms, for example reversing the move towards collective bargaining at company rather than industry level.”

FT ridicules the notion that Russia’s Putin will backroll Alexis Tsipras’ Greece.

“… The implied threat of Greece escaping its EU obligations through assistance from Russia is an empty one. Moscow certainly has enough foreign exchange reserves to cause mischief if it wants to, but the idea that it will take on the burden of bankrolling a crisis-prone economy is a non-starter.”

Another FT articles spells out the pressing dates this month and in May that the radical leftists in Athens face, beginning with Wednesday, April 8.

Wednesday, April 8: Eurogroup Working Group to discuss progress on Greece/ECB weekly emergency liquidity assistance renewal

Wednesday, April 8: €1.4 bn T-bill issue, to refinance April 14 maturity

Thursday, April 9: €450 mln IMF repayment

Tuesday, April 14: €1.4 bn T-bill maturity (€750m is reported to be owned by foreigners)

Wednesday, April 15: regular ECB Governing Council meeting and emergency liquidity assistance review

Friday, April 17: €194 mln coupon payment on GGB19 and €1bn t-bill maturity (most likely fully owned by domestics)

Friday, April 17: IMF spring meetings

Friday, April 24: European finance minister’s meeting to be held in Riga

Friday, May 1: €200 mln IMF repayment

Friday, May 8: €1.4 bn T-bill maturity (issued Nov 11 so likely partial foreign ownership)

Monday, May 11: European finance minister’s meeting

Tuesday, May 12: €760 mln IMF repayment

Friday, May 15: €1.4 bn T-bill maturity (issued Feb. 13 likely full domestic ownership)