Eurogroup meeting ends – Joint statement issued

All eyes on Eurogroup

(UPD-17.20) The Eurogroup meeting has concluded. Reports say Greek PM Alexis Tsipras will address the European Parliament on Wednesday. Finance Ministers are expected to talk to the media shortly. Information about when the Greek site will official table its latest proposal to Eurogroup partners is still sketchy, as some reports emanating from foreign journalists and Greek media correspondents claim that new Greek FinMin Eucleid Tsakalotos did not bring a plan with him. The Greek government responded that it has presented a plan (possibly a rehashed version of the Juncker plan from last week).

Here’s the joint Eurogroup statement:

“The Eurogroup welcomed the new Greek Minister for Finance Euclid Tsakalotos who presented the situation in Greece following the referendum on 5 July 2015.
The Eurogroup exchanged views on the way forward.
Following the meeting Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem announced that the Greek government would submit a new request for financial assistance from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The request is expected tomorrow, 8 July 2015.
The Eurogroup is ready to hold a conference call on the same day when the request is received.
Following the submission of the request, the Eurogroup President will ask the institutions – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – to assess and analyse Greece’s financing needs and the debt sustainability. Following the assessment the Eurogroup will be able to take a decision on whether formal negotiations can start.”

(UPD-16.33) According to reports the Greek proposal to the Eurogroup by new FinMin, Euclid Tsakalotos is a revised plan of the original one presented to Athens last week, by European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, which was rejected by the Greek government.

EC officials and Finance Ministers attending the today’s crucial Eurgroup meeting made it clear that a deal would include harsh terms. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said Athens cannot receive help if it’s not in a bailout program. Pierre Moscovici, the Economic and Financial affairs Commissioner, said Greece should tell the EU what it wants, “It is either stability of adventure”, he said, adding that the other 18 Eurozone members-states’ citizens should also be taken into account.

“We are here to display our historic responsibility — A Grexit would be a great failure”.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that the institutions are expecting proposals from Athens and expect them to be reliable. Meanwhile, Latvia’s central banker, who also sits on the ECB governing board, Ilmars Rimsevics, expressed a “harder line”, saying that the most realistic scenario for Greece is to adopt a new currency, according to Reuters. “Greece voted its exit from the Eurozone on Sunday”, he said