In full contrast to the “harmony” projected during yesterday’s meeting between German chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis met today a very hostile environment during the informal Eurogroup meeting in Riga.
Not much progress was expected during the finance ministers meeting and not much progress was made, even if the meeting lasted longer than expected. According to information, Yanis Varoufakis was almost “attacked” by other Finance Ministers. Eurozone head, Jeroen Dijsselbloem ,was asked about this information and he refrained from dismissing it, saying that “it was a very critical discussion”. He explained that “today we had hoped” to have a draft agreement presented, but this was not the case.
“We agreed that an agreement will be difficult,” confirmed letter Yanis Varoufakis, adding that nevertheless, an agreement must be reached.
During the press conference following the meeting, Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici were not as direct as the Malteze Finance Minister,Edward Scicluna, who spoke about a “complete breakdown in communication”.
But they pointed out that “we are far from a comprehensive agreement”, stressing at the same time that such an agreement is needed in order for disbursement of funds to be made.
Both Dijsselbloem and Moscovici stressed that a lot of time has been lost and that “time is running out”. They also pointed out that it is the Greek government that has to bear the responsibility for achieving progress.
“We must accelerate from today, from this weekend, constantly” said Moscovici trying to convey the urgency of achieving progress.
Both Dijsselbloem and Moscovici tied any disbursement to the conclusion of a “comprehensive” agreement. Answering a question about the possibility of a partial disbursement earlier in order to prevent a Greek default, Dijsselbloem simply answered emphatically: “No”.
Referring to Greece’s liquidity problems, the president of the Eurogroup said that “liquidity is more and more of a problem so the motivation is there” for Greece to proceed quickly to an agreement. “There are big, big problems to be solved” he noted.
On his part, ECB president, Mario Draghi who took part in this informal Eurogroup meeting, noted the “fragility” of the Greek situation when asked about the possible existence of limits in the ELA programme. He mentioned “continuing deposit outflows”, the “ongoing policy dialogue” and the “rise in Greek bond yields” to note that at this moment in Greece “collateral gets destroyed” and that the “current situation is not the same” as when the current framework was decided, thus raising the possibility of a “collateral haircut” for the Greek banking sector.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/greek-bashing-in-riga/