Creditors leave Athens without a deal

Talks failed

Negotiations between Greece and the Quartet have failed as the lenders’ representatives are reportedly departing from Athens Thursday. The creditors are expected to make an announcement on their interruption of talks with Greece Thursday. Quartet officials said Wednesday, ‘We will return soon’. It is unclear, however, whether a Eurogroup meeting will be held Tuesday or Thursday after Easter. According to sources, Greece’s creditors disagree with the Greek proposal for measures to be implemented whenever Eurostat detects divergence, because the European stats services makes announcements four months after the budget is submitted. The Greek side presented alternative proposals which were neither rejected nor accepted by the institutions. Greece insists that the measures should take the tom of emergency taxes, while the creditors want an ‘automatic mechanism’ that would be activated without additional actions. Wednesday, the European Council President, Donald Tusk effectively turned down Greek PM Alexis Tsipras’s request for an EU Summit meeting, while Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem left the possibility of a Eurogroup open. Sources say the IMF doubts the Greek government would able to legislate extra measures in advance. European Commission President dubbed the Fund’s demand ant—constitutional, while head of the ESM Klaus Regling appeared to support the implementation of contingency measures.