Greece and eurozone policy makers are planning to set about a new round of talks to reach a compromise on the aid program to Athens.
“I think today we leave having made important steps,” Greece’s Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, said after a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels as quoted by The Wall Street Journal. “We didn’t cover the full distance but we covered an important part, and proved that the EU is a field of conflicts and compromises.”
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker supports Greece’s Prime Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem in their determination to hold interim talks on Greece’s bailout before the next meeting of eurozone’s finance ministers.
“New ideas of the Greek government will not be ignored. The Greek authorities consider that 70% of the program in such a way they could accept. Will need to look relative to the remaining 30%, for which there are differences, what we can do,” the European Commission President commented on.
He does not object that Athens could request the EC to cancel some measures suggested by the bailout program which are considered to be anti-social. However, the EC can approve it on condition that such measures are replaced with other ones to fill the budget gap.
“On this basis, we will make efforts to reach an accord in the nearest days,” Jean-Claude Juncker added.
On February 11, at the unscheduled meeting Greece’s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, withdrew consent to a joint statement at the last minute.
Greece’s existing bailout is worth €240 billion which accounts for over 175% of GDP. Greece must pay off almost €20 billion its creditors this year. The ongoing bailout program expires on February 28. Thus, the country could have to survive without the creditors’ aid since March 1.
