Thursday, June 25, 2015

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is due to resume talks with international creditors this morning in the effort to conclude a cash-for-reform deal. According to a government official, Greece’s delegation expected yesterday’s talks in Brussels to focus on Greek proposals the institutions had accepted as a basis for discussion last Monday; instead, creditors submitted their own proposals for measures unacceptable by Athens, as they shifted the burden to salaried workers and pensioners, “in a way that is socially unfair, while also proposing measures to avoid increasing the burden on the privileged”.

Tsipras insisted Greece’s planned reforms were being treated unfairly compared to those of other troubled euro members, tweeting: “The repeated rejection of equivalent measures by certain institutions never occurred before – neither in [bailout countries] Ireland or Portugal

Earlier in the day, Tsipras, accompanied by State Minister Nikos Pappas and Alternate Minister for International Economic Relations Euclid Tsakalotos, held talks for several hours with Jean-Claude Juncker, Mario Draghi and Christine Lagarde.

As talks were inconclusive, it was decided at the Eurogroup meeting which followed that it would reconvene today, in the hope that there will be a document to assess. However, late night talks with the institutions broke up without agreement. "The Greek government remains firm on its positions," a Greek official told reporters early on Thursday.