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Greece crisis: eurozone demands action, not words
“The most important currency has been lost,” remarked a rueful Angela Merkel on her way into the Eurozone talks today, “and that is trust.”
“The most important currency has been lost,” remarked a rueful Angela Merkel on her way into the Eurozone talks today, “and that is trust.”
It is every bit as much about trust as about economics now. Of course, this being Brussels and this being the EU, nobody would ever use a word as straightforward as “trust”.
The Greeks arrived with a set of proposals widely scorned as “more austere than the ones they rejected”. The internet burst forth with catcalls – “they’ve caved in”.
Berlin had calculated that the Greek people would come to their senses and vote yes. The opposite happened – and Chancellor Merkel must now untangle a Gordian knot of a problem.
Why did Varoufakis go? The official reason, on his blog, was pressure from creditors. But there are a whole host of other reasons that made it easier for him to decide to yield to it.
The IMF’s report yesterday got swamped amid the gloom, despondency and fractiousness of the Greek crisis. It said, in short, Greece’s debt has become unsustainable.
Last night’s ‘Yes’ campaign demo was big – I would say maybe a quarter bigger than the ‘No’ demo of Monday, and with a much more angry atmosphere.
David Cameron ended up getting the prestigious 11pm slot to speak for about 5 minutes about Britain’s renegotiation. A source said the Prime Minister didn’t notice if anyone had left the room.
Ahead of a crucial meeting on the Greece debt crisis on Monday, Paul Mason presents a special long-read, offering five pictures of the country.
The big debate now is over a renegotiation which will be followed by a giant safety valve for backbench discontent: their longed-for referendum.
The Greek crisis ramped up a gear last night when, at the start of supposed “last chance” talks in Brussels, EU negotiators told the Greek delegation that “negotiations were over”.
They came, they saw, they had – as one Syriza MP put it to me last night – “their balls handed to them”. For all the smiling and calm displayed by Alexis Tsipras, the Greeks know they came off the worst.
Running short of cash to pay public sector salaries, pensions and debt obligations, Greece’s Syriza has laid out what it will and will not negotiate with its creditors, but will it be enough?
Cameron is in Riga today to meet his fellow EU leaders for the first time since the election, but the focus won’t be on his party’s now mandated plans for renegotiation.
European negotiators have just days to conclude an agreement with Greece or a critical payment to the IMF on 5 June is likely to be missed, according to a leaked document seen by Channel 4 News.