With Greek money, deposits and time all running out ahead of Monday’s key Eurogroup meeting, which in turn also marks the end of the Jeroen Dijsselbloem 10 Day ultimatum granted to Greece by which the impoverished nation should agree to extend its current bailout program, the political rhetoric has hit a crescendo, and so has the bluffing by every side as the cards are all about to be revealed. Case in point Greece, which on one hand is signalling that a deal is imminent and is willing to do “whatever it can” to reach it, and on the other, its government is posturing that a deal is not likely to come tomorrow.
According to Kathimerini, late last night, Greek PM Tsipras chaired a meeting of his cabinet on Friday night to brief ministers on the state of talks with the eurozone. “With the possibility of the government having to make a compromise with the eurozone over the way forward in the next few days, Tsipras was eager to assess the mood of his cabinet. Some members, such as Energy Minister Panayiotis Lafazanis, have been adamant that the government should stick to its pre-election pledges.”
Which probably suggests that Greece is if not about to fold, then certainly cave on most, if not all, of its demands.
Still, Greece is hopeful that some deus ex machina will appear in the last minute, and that delaying the inevitable will give it some further leverage. Which explains why, as Kathimerini reported, “the government is not holding out much hope for a solution in Brussels on Monday. There have been some positive steps but there is a lot of ground that has to be covered, said a government source.
Sources cited also insist that the Greek government would not be willing to back down from its position on certain issues such as labor regulations, privatizations and the lowering of the primary surplus target. Athens believes that the two sides can find common ground on issues like public administration reform, improving tax collection and tackling corruption.
