No one wants to call it an ultimatum, but the truth is that is what it seems: the other 18 members of the Eurogroup gave four days to Greece to give in and end up accepting an extension of the current program of troika , which the Government of Alexis Tsipras from the beginning refused. Otherwise there is no way to continue the negotiations.
After the failure of the meeting six o’clock last Wednesday, the ministers of the euro zone finance again meet on Monday, and after only 30 minutes of discussion about Greece, the end result was again the same: the inability to reach a joint statement to signify the existence of a political agreement on how the Greek situation will be managed over the coming months. The difference is that for the partners of Greece in the eurozone, it is established that there is only one solution: the continuation of negotiations under the current program of troika , and given as an offering “some flexibility” in your application.
As defended the President of the Eurogroup at the end of the meeting, the ball is now on the side of Greece and time is running out. For the application for extension of the program by Greece can arrive in time to all countries adopt (some in their respective parliaments) must be presented “by the end of this week, but not more than that,” said Jeroen Dijsselbloem. The possibility of a new extraordinary Eurogroup meeting on Friday was open, “but only if Greece however make the request for extension of the program.”
What then will Greece? Yanis Varoufakis, at the press conference following the meeting of the Eurogroup, rejected the ideas that Athens is before an ultimatum and that was Greece that got the ball on their side. “The EU history shows that nothing good comes out of ultimatums. I am sure that any idea of a ultimatum will disappear in the coming days, “said the Greek finance minister, adding that” talk about who has the ball in hand makes it look like a game. ” “We have no right to play games with the future of Europe,” he said.
On whether will ask whether or not an extension of the current program of troika in the coming days, response was inconclusive. Varoufakis said he had no doubt that an agreement will be signed in the coming days, but at the same time reaffirmed that it is simply wrong for the Greek government to accept an unchanged extension of the program after winning a complete overhaul based on their elections.
The Greek Minister further increased the mystery, saying that it had received the European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici earlier in the day a draft agreement that he was prepared to sign right away, but this was withdrawn by Dijsselbloem and replaced by another which turned out to not be accepted by Greece. It was unclear, however, what is the difference between the two proposals.
What is known, for now, is that what is at stake at this point in the negotiations is not the definition in concrete a program to Greece. Those who finance ministers were discussing was how the next four months Greece will be able to ensure the funding they need, while discussing with European partners a possible new program for the medium term.
Eurogroup members were unhappy with the fact that after a few days of work between the troika and the Greek Government, have not been established that there were differences between the actually existing program and what are the new plans Athens. And then, in a position that was also defended by Pierre Moscovici, agreed (obviously excluding Greece) that, to continue to discuss what may or may not be changed in the program, the only way to do this is to extend the period of valid, which means that Greece will have in one way or another back to fulfill some conditions. “It is a necessity, we run with rules and they must be respected,” said European Commissioner.
According to Jeroen Dijsselbloem with the application for extension must come a commitment of Greece that wants to meet the conditions of the program, including the budgetary targets being offered yet “some flexibility”.
What is the Eurogroup mean by “some flexibility”? It is the possibility that is given to a country to negotiate with the troika the replacement of certain measures by other having the same kind of effect, including the budget. It is a flexibility that has always given us programs troika , including in Portugal.
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