A report is emerging from EU officials and the Greek press (Kathimerini) that EC president Juncker sent a last minute offer to Greece. . The offer is for a one month extension and will include a commitment to talk about Greece’s debt from October 2015. Another report suggests that the Greek government has swiftly rejected the offer.
Can they work something before Greece the official deadline in 24 hours? Perhaps another offer or a negotiation on the details? This seems a very long shot. In any case, here is what has emerged.
Report: Greece reconsidering Juncker proposal – Watch the debt relief clause
Here are more details from Kathimerini, a leading Greek paper, using Google Translate. Sorry for the choppy translation:
Send Mr. Tsipras letter to midnight today at Mr. Juncker, Ntaiselmploum, Merkel and Hollande to which it accepts the proposal of institutions, as published Sunday by a recent change in terms EKAS, and agree that this data will be in favor of the ‘yes’ vote.
You will be asked to convene the Eurogroup today before midnight in order to adopt a declaration that the decision of November 2012 to settle the Greek debt will be implemented this October in collaboration with the European Support Mechanism (ESM). Moreover the Eurogroup will decide technical extension of the current program for a month.
Here is the original tweet from Efi Koutsokosta, a journalist with Euronews:
#EU source says that president @JunckerEU sent a last hour offer to the Greek gov. #Greece#Greferendum
— EfiKoutsokosta (@Efkouts) June 29, 2015
It’s now 24 hours until Greece is officially in arrears with the IMF. It needs to make the payment by 18:00 Washington time. Greece has already stated it does not intend to pay. According to the definitions, this is not a default per se, but it does put Greece in an unfortunate list of troubled countries.
This is also the deadline for the end of the current bailout program. Perhaps more importantly, the ECB needs to decide on Wednesday if it continues with emergency landing (ELA).
But. in a TV interview, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said that if there is a deal, they could still pay the IMF. This seemed a bit unreal, given the timing and the bad blood between Juncker and Tsipras.
And here is the tweet about the rejection:
Last @JunckerEU proposal already rejected by the gov acc to Greek gov sources. “We go for No†is the msg. #Greferendum
— EfiKoutsokosta (@Efkouts) June 29, 2015
Also Kathimerini reports about the rejection by the Greek government.
Greek crisis – all the updates in one place
Interestingly, EUR/USD has begun a gradual descent after the amazing recovery. Will the pair continue its weird behavior? Falling on negotiations and rising on a break down of talks?
In any case, here are 5 reasons for the EUR/USD rally on the Greek escalation.