Monday, June 22, 2015

Athens offers reforms prelude to the summit with the EU – El Universal (Venezuela)

Athens, Brussels .- The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, Sunday offered a new package of reforms to its international creditors, pointing to last-minute concessions to break a deadlock in negotiations on financing has Athens led to the brink of bankruptcy.

After months of discussions and savers withdrawing billions of euros of Greek banks, the Government of Tsipras this weekend showed willingness to make concessions to free support financial necessary to avoid a default, citing Reuters.

The French President, Francois Hollande, confirmed during a visit to Milan, on Sunday, Greece submitted new proposals.

European diplomats said they have not arrived yet, but representatives of the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), creditors, met yesterday to discuss them.

It was not immediately clear what they offered new proposals to creditors, which require additional spending cuts and tax hikes, but the news raised hopes that agreement can be reached last minute before the Greek government runs out of cash.

One day before emergency meetings, including a summit of euro zone leaders in Brussels, Tsipras participated in a marathon cabinet meeting and discussed by phone the new deal with the leaders of Germany, France and the European Commission.

“The prime minister introduced the three leaders of Greece’s proposal for an agreement mutually beneficial to provide a definitive solution and not postponed tackling the problem” , Tsipras’s office said in a statement.

Greek officials have suggested that Athens would be ready to consider raising the value-added tax or other taxes to appease lenders.

From Milan, the head of the Italian government, Matteo Renzi, was optimistic and said “are united” the conditions for a “beneficial to all parties” agreement.

“There is no time to lose. Every day counts. The negotiations and dialogue must continue so that an agreement is reached,” Hollande said for his part in a joint press conference with Renzi.

The European ministers have played down the chances of a final agreement is reached on Monday, but expect it to reach a political understanding in time to achieve a complete agreement before the end of June.

LikeTweet

No comments:

Post a Comment