Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has criticized Greece’s international creditors from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) for rejecting his latest reform proposals. The late-night talks proved fruitless and are resuming again at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. Greek time, 7 a.m. GMT) ahead of a Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers scheduled for 1 p.m.(2 p.m. Greek time, 11 a.m. GMT).
Differences remain as to how a fiscal gap worth 600 mln euros can be covered. In terms of numbers, there is no great difference but the political gulf is huge. Tsipras is holding tight to pledges he made to voters on January 25, 2015, such as a serious discussion on debt restructuring. On the other hand, Tsipras needs to respect Greece’s commitments to the country’s creditors in order to unlock the final 7.2-billion euro tranche that Greece desperately needs to repay 1.6-billion-euros worth of debt to the IMF.