The third bailout of Greece, on the table – The Economist

You have until Sunday to present a reform agenda.

Claim. MEPs firmly Tsipras criticized failure to submit any concrete proposal. Photo: Notimex

The third bailout to Greece is already on the table. Athens presented formally to the European Financial Stability Mechanism (ESM) application. From now, Greece will have to present a reform agenda accompanying the request, and European leaders margin given until Sunday to accept the request.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) He has the key of liquidity to Greek banks. In fact, the Greek government announced the second extension of tax corralito 10 days ago until Sunday, after the ECB decided to keep the maximum amount of emergency liquidity.

The decree law already was published in the Official Gazette, it took effect from midnight on Wednesday, on expiry of the fixed extension on Monday and includes the same restrictions until Sunday, coinciding with the holding of the summit of European leaders on Greece.

Banks and the Athens Stock Exchange will be closed and the limit of cash withdrawal at ATMs will remain at 60 euros a day.

In parallel, Christine Lagarde, managing director the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said that the “acute” crisis of Greece calls for debt restructuring and recalled that the institution is involved in the negotiations on the bailout for Athens “requested his assistance.”

In a lecture at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the director of the Fund available to the agency to help Greece tackle the “acute” crisis, suffering, and reiterated that the IMF had always advocated an approach that “combines debt sustainability structural reforms “.

Lagarde also said that” if the IMF is involved is because Greece requested assistance; once the Fund is involved, must follow its rules and be fair, “he said in reference to the statement in default of Athens to breach a payment of 1,600 million euros last week.

Present reforms” credible “Tsipras

Alexis Tsipras, Greek Prime Minister promised to present” new concrete proposals for credible reforms “as he calls the euro zone to keep the country afloat and within the monetary union.

Before the European Parliament, Tsipras added, however, that any agreement with creditors should be “socially just and economically viable.”

The new proposals will be analyzed the Saturday the finance ministers of the eurozone, before the summit of the 28 leaders of the European Union scheduled for Sunday.

Tsipras said before the deputies would achieve “meet the exigencies of the situation for the good of Greece, the euro area and the economic and geopolitical interests of Europe. ” (With information from agencies)

It’s time to make the hard decisions: Jacob Lew

An agreement on Greece is only possible if “tough decisions” on reforms taken by Athens and on a debt relief on the part of Europeans, estimated Jacob Lew, secretary of the US Treasury.

“I do not believe that a Greek prime minister to sell new budgetary measures and structural reforms without get an idea of ​​the viability of the debt, “said Jacob Lew in Washington.

Meanwhile, the US official said that European governments could not” sell “a new aid plan for Athens” without the certainty that the agreement will be strictly implemented. “

” There are not many new issues to address. At some point you just have to take difficult decisions, “summed Lew, ensuring reach Grexit would be a geopolitical mistake.

Athens, indirectly backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), calls for debt relief the Europeans, with Germany at the head not talk right now.

“Greece’s debt is unsustainable,” said Lew, giving reason to the IMF, which recently urged Europeans to make a gesture to ease the country’s debt, which is around 180% of its GDP.

“Greece needs a debt and sustainable growth path for the future,” said Lew. (With information from AFP)