Greece finally gives up, new deal on way

Athens 

Greece yesterday said it would present new proposals to its EU-IMF creditors to reach a debt deal as the country’s outspoken finance minister called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to make a “clear decision” at an emergency eurozone summit.

European Union heads are waiting for Greece’s anti-austerity government to present new economic reform and budget proposals, and Greek Minister of State Alekos Flambouraris said yesterday Athens would propose re-worked measures.

The pressure has mounted on Greece ahead of an emergency summit of the leaders of the 19 countries in the euro area on Monday in Brussels.

But the country’s finance chief Yanis Varoufakis, whose flamboyant style has irked many of his European counterparts, turned the tables putting the onus on the leader of paymaster Germany to make a deal.

Merkel can “enter into an honourable agreement with a government, which has rejected the ‘rescue package’ and is seeking a negotiated solution, or follow the calls from (those in) her government who want her to throw overboard the only Greek government which has been faithful to its principles and which is able to take the Greek people on the road to reform,” said Varoufakis in an article to appear in the German press today.

If there’s no deal, Greece seems likely to default on an IMF debt payment of around 1.5 billion euros due on June 30, and with that risk a chaotic exit from the eurozone.

That prospect appeared to be fuelling the rising number of Greek savers withdrawing money from national banks. The rush of withdrawals forced the ECB on Friday to lift its emergency liquidity reserve available to Greek banks for the second time in a week.

Varoufakis said Athens also has expectations.

“On our side, we will come with determination to Brussels to agree to further compromises as long as we are not asked to do what the previous (Greek) governments have done: accept new debt under conditions that offer little hope for Greece to repay its debts,” he wrote, without specifying the compromises.