Fra Gruardian:
The Greek government has just confirmed that prime ministerAlexis Tsipras is meeting German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the French president Francois Hollande and the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.
The statement did not state what either group hoped to achieve.
Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, Alexis Tsipras and Jean-Claude Juncker are now locked in a room with their advisors:
Fra Guardian:
Dijsselbloem: Greece will submit proposals tomorrow
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup, is giving his statement now.
He says that eurozone finance ministers will hold a conference call on Wednesday to discuss a request from Greece for financial assistance through the European Stability Mechanism.
He confirms that the Greek government did not submit a written request today – remarkable, really, given the urgency of the crisis now — but will produce one by tomorrow.
Greece’s reported proposals
Greece’s proposals to the Eurogroup will be broadly similar to the plan which was rejected in the referendum, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.
It would keep the VAT rebate for islands, leave VAT for restaurants at 13% and contain limited cuts in defence spending.
VAT and pensions were of course the famous red lines, beyond which the Greek government would not go.
Meanwhile in the Stern report, Germany’s Gabriel hinted at the possibility of discussing debt relief but only if Greece agrees to reforms:
“If we simply emphasize debt, without that much will change fundamentally in Greece, nothing is won,” said Gabriel; they could also talk about “the possibility of reducing the debt, only talk if the Greek Government also indicates that will implement reforms.”But he was confident “at the end we will find a way out of the crisis in Greece”.
