Greek Debt Blueprint Gets a Cold Reception in Athens
Photo Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece in Athens on Saturday. He returns to Brussels Wednesday for more talks with creditors. Credit Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters ATHENS — Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced anger and resistance on Tuesday from members of his own radical left political party, complicating his efforts to strike a deal this week with Greece ’s creditors, as some lawmakers and party officials criticized concessions by the Greek side and expressed doubts about voting for a deal in Parliament. Mr. Tsipras returned to Athens on Tuesday afternoon after negotiations in Brussels brought predictions that a deal would be completed by the end of the week, in which creditors would unlock bailout funding so that Greece can stave off default in exchange for concessions on tax increases and pension changes. Less clear, if critical in the eyes of Greek leaders, is a potential European promise for future debt relief. […]
EU welcomes 11th-hour Greek proposals in ‘forceps delivery’
BRUSSELS/ATHENS The European Union welcomed new proposals from Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras as a "good basis for progress" at talks on Monday where creditors want 11th-hour concessions to haul Athens back from the brink of bankruptcy. EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief-of-staff spoke of a "forceps delivery" as officials worked late into the night to produce a deal ahead of a summit of euro zone leaders in Brussels that they hope can keep Greece in the currency bloc. Giving no detail of a proposal he said was also received by the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, German EU official Martin Selmayr tweeted: "Good basis for progress at … Euro Summit. In German: ‘eine Zangengeburt’." After four months of wrangling and with anxious depositors pulling billions of euros out of Greek banks, Tsipras’s leftist government showed a new willingness at the weekend to make concessions that would […]
EU welcomes 11th-hour Greek proposals in ‘forceps delivery’
BRUSSELS/ATHENS The European Union welcomed new proposals from Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras as a "good basis for progress" at talks on Monday where creditors want 11th-hour concessions to haul Athens back from the brink of bankruptcy. EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief-of-staff spoke of a "forceps delivery" as officials worked late into the night to produce a deal ahead of a summit of euro zone leaders in Brussels that they hope can keep Greece in the currency bloc. Giving no detail of a proposal he said was also received by the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, German EU official Martin Selmayr tweeted: "Good basis for progress at … Euro Summit. In German: ‘eine Zangengeburt’." After four months of wrangling and with anxious depositors pulling billions of euros out of Greek banks, Tsipras’s leftist government showed a new willingness at the weekend to make concessions that would […]
ECB boosts emergency funding as Greek banks bleed, Tsipras calm
ATHENS/LUXEMBOURG The European Central Bank expanded emergency funding to keep Greece’s stricken banks on their feet as a steady flow of withdrawals continued on Friday ahead of a summit next week that could decide whether the country can stay in the euro. With pressure on Greece’s fragile banking system growing daily, the ECB held a teleconference and raised the cap on so-called emergency liquidity assistance, which the banks rely on to keep operating, by 1.8 billion euros, Greek officials said. That should be enough to keep the system running until euro zone leaders meet on Monday night in a last-ditch effort to reach an aid-for-reforms deal with Athens. As the country edged closer to a possible default at the end of the month, leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras assured Greeks that prophets of "crisis and terror" would be confounded, and his government would strike a deal with European Union […]
Greece, Russia Strike Preliminary Gas Pipeline Deal
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—Greece and Russia signed a preliminary agreement Friday for cooperation on a pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Europe through Greece and Turkey. The agreement, which isn’t legally binding, was signed by the Greek and Russian Energy Ministers, respectively Panagiotis Lafazanis and Alexander Novak, on the sidelines of an economic forum. It comes amid last-ditch efforts to prevent further economic collapse in Greece and the country’s possible exit from the eurozone as Athens and its international creditors are yet to agree on the terms of a new financial bailout before Greece has to make multibillion-dollar debt repayments later this month. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is scheduled to meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin later Friday. After a meeting between the two leaders last month, Mr. Putin, said that Russia was ready to consider financial help to Greece in exchange for Greece’s agreement to sign […]