Reverberations from the failure to find common ground between the Greek side and its eurozone lenders, during an extraordinary Eurogroup meeting on Wednesday night, continued well into the next day, with tense nerves leading to “finger-pointing”.
Greek government sources put the blame squarely on German FinMin Wolfgang Schaeuble for the failed bid to formulate a joint communiqué at the end of the meeting. “If someone left in order to create fait acomplis, it’s not our fault,” was one of the statements by a government “source” speaking from Brussels.
Several sources, more-or-less confirmed by official Athens, said the word “extending” – as in extension of the soon-to-expire bailout plan – doomed the text.
A skirmish later broke out over whether a Financial Times report detailing a “final text”, that was almost ratified but for a last-minute refusal by Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, was accurate.
Greek circles denied that the text presented by FT report Peter Spiegel was the “final text”, rather it was one of many draft texts discussed. They also denied the “long-distance” rejection by Tsipras.
Spiegel’s report, in fact, drew a rebuke by none other than Greek FinMin Yanis
Varoufakis via his Twitter account:
According to leaked material presenting the other side of the argument, the leftist Greek government failed to present a concrete plan for an alternative to the bailout plan, which ends on Feb. 28.
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