But back to the main event of the day, as focus falls on Greece once again as the Greek PM Tsipras looks to meet with German Chancellor Merkel today after sending a letter to her last week which said it will be “impossible” to service near-term debt obligations.The two will meet from 1600GMT, with a press conference tentatively scheduled for 1800GMT and a working dinner from 1900GMT. Lingering concerns around the periphery has caused some selling pressure in Greek bonds and the 3y yield sits higher by ~40bps, although the domestic Greek stock market remains unfazed and trades with marginal gains.
How big is today’s meeting? As Hajo Funke, political scientist with Berlin’s Free University, told AFP earlier, “two worlds will collide” when Merkel and Tsipras sit down this afternoon:
“There is the political world of Greece, where a left-wing government faces a society in collapse, (of) societal decay… as grave as anything we have seen in western Europe since 1945.”
“The other world is a content country that is dominant in Europe, Germany, which worries about maintaining its economic happiness, and which is now being asked to help the other, under conditions it doesn’t fully understand.”
So yes: today’s meeting (4:00 PM GMT), the subsequent press conference (6:00PM GMT), could well lead to a symbolic “last supper” for Tsipras at 7:00PM.
