Summary: Exasperated Eurozone hammer “amateur” Greek finance minister
Eurozone finance ministers have blasted Greece for failing to make more progress towards a bailout deal, at an acrimonious eurogroup meeting in Riga.
Ministers laid into Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis for not having reached agreement with creditors, two months after being given a four month extension to its loan programme.
Although there are positive signs, there are still “wide differences to bridge on substance”.
We are all aware that time is running out…too much time has been lost.
Dijsselbloem also warned that it is very hard to consider a new programme for Greece to cover its funding needs beyond June, given the lack of progress recently. And he ruled out giving Greece a slice of the €7.2bn bailout cash that is being held back until reforms are agreed.
ECB president Mario Draghi also showed exasperation over the slow pace, and warned that the ECB could potentially impose tougher conditions in return for keeping Greek banks afloat.
Draghi said:
“The higher are the yields [on Greek bonds], the bigger is the volatility, the more collateral gets destroyed,”
“Time is running out as the president of the Eurogroup said, and speed is of the essence.”
Insiders in Riga say that Varoufakis came under sustained fire behind the closed-doors meeting. According to Bloomberg, the academic-turned-finance minister was called “a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur.”
Despite the bruising encounter, Varoufakis remains adamant that a deal will be reached in time to avoid Greece defaulting on its debts.
Associated Press explains:
Greece’s Varoufakis conceded there were differences that still need to be bridged but insisted that a deal “will happen and will happen quickly as it’s the only option we have.”
He also sought to counter claims that talks had not advanced. He said there’s been a lot of progress on issues such as privatization, reforming the tax system, the judiciary, the bureaucracy and product markets.
“We look at the last few weeks and what we see is convergence,” he said.
It’s hard to believe that Varoufakis was at the same room as Malta’s finance minister, Edward Scicluna.
Scicluna emerged to declare:
“I would describe today’s meeting as a complete breakdown in communication with Greece.”
There’s now speculation that Greece’s creditors could sent more technical officials back into Athens in an attempt to kick-start the process.
With Greece’s kicking out of the way, ministers and officials are now gathering for a photo op before vanishing for more meetings.
Yanis Varoufakis looks unbowed:
The FT’s Peter Spiegel has heard that some eurozone officials want to move the negotiations back to Greece, rather than meeting in Brussels or (last weekend) in Paris.
That must have been firmly resisted by the Greek side, who are adamant that the dsays of Troika officials stalking Athens were ov
