After spending almost six months failing to reach an agreement on an aid bailout, Greece’s creditors say they have prepared a detailed scenario for a so-called ‘Grexit’, should the country leave the euro single currency.
"The Commission is ready for everything. We have prepared a Grexit scenario in detail... a humanitarian scenario and the scenario for keeping Greece in the eurozone," the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Tuesday after an emergency summit of eurozone leaders on Greece's future, according to AFP.
AP quoted Alexis Tsipras as saying that the latest proposal contains “credible reforms that are socially just and include in reciprocity a commitment to cover the country’s financial needs in the medium-term, a strong investment package to counter big problems such as unemployment, as well as the start of substantial talks on the restructuring of debt.”
#Tsipras: "This is not only a Greek problem, this is a European problem" #Greece#GreeceCrisis
— Nick Barnets (@NickBarnets) 8 июля 2015
Greece's eurozone partners complained, however, that Athens’ delegation arrived at the Tuesday summit unprepared, and without any new comprehensive proposals.
After calling the emergency summit following last Sunday’s Greek “No” vote to proposals from its eurozone creditors, EU President Donald Tusk warned that Greece has until Thursday “at the latest” to submit a reform plan and proposals for a “comprehensive and specific agenda.” The 28 leaders of the EU will now meet to assess Greece’s final proposals on Sunday, July 12. According to Tusk, “inability to find an agreement may lead to the bankruptcy of Greece and insolvency of its banking system.” He said the protracted negotiations “is maybe the most critical moment in our history.”
Greek government and @JunckerEU should make public the file "#Grexit" given to #Tsipras. Greek people should be aware of coming disaster.
— Dimitris Kourkoulas (@kourkoulasdim) 8 июля 2015
French President Francois Hollande told reporters on Tuesday that Greece needs to make “credible and serious proposals” to prove it wants to remain part of the 19-nation eurozone. He said that Athens will receive financing only after at least a medium-term deal is reached.
“If Greece leaves, it will be the absolute end of the EU project. Therefore the EU won't allow that,” UKIP MEP Ray Finch told RT. “They will give in. And as soon as they do, the next morning they will hear a knock on the door from Spain, Portugal and Ireland."
He added: “We feel the euro is a corrupt mechanism. Greece and Germany could never occupy the same financial zone without significant financial transfers.”
#Tsipras: "We don't want to burden EU taxpayers. They should now that the money given so far did not go to Greeks but to save banks" #Greece
— Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) 8 июля 2015
Speaking to the European Parliament on Tuesday, the EU Commission president, who is a vocal critic of the Greek government, called the country's referendum a “circus” and the people’s vote “irrelevant.”
“I’m strongly against Grexit but I can’t prevent it if the Greek government is not doing what we expect the Greek government to do, to respect the dignity of the Greek people,” Bloomberg quoted Juncker as saying.
Athens wants finance from creditors to end July, to give time to agree "big sustainable agreement". #GreeceCrisis
— Robert Peston (@Peston) July 7, 2015
Finland’s Finance Minister Alexander Stubb said European governments are beginning to run out of patience with Athens, adding that the “ball is now in Greece’s court,” in terms of proposals on how to tackle its debt crisis.