Greek leader discusses bailout deal with Hollande, Merkel

[webfact]

Greek leader discusses bailout deal with Hollande, Merkel
DEMETRIS NELLAS, Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday spoke with the leaders of France and Germany in their second conference call in three days to discuss progress in the talks between Athens and its lenders, Greek officials said.

The 35-minute call with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel "went very well," and it was agreed that a deal must be completed very soon, the officials said.

The German government described the conversation as constructive but gave no further details. Similar optimistic statements from Greek officials in the past few days about "technical talks" in Brussels hadn't been echoed by other parties.

The radical left-led Syriza government that was elected in January is running out of cash. It urgently needs to wind up negotiations with creditors on what reforms it must make to get a vital 7.2 billion euro ($7.8 billion) payment from the bailout plan that has kept it afloat for five years. Otherwise, the country could default within weeks and crash out of the euro currency union.

Following Sunday's conference call, Tsipras met for two hours with Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis, who told reporters he was optimistic for a deal "soon."

Greek TV station Skai reported that Tsipras might join Hollande, Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Berlin on Monday. German officials said they could not confirm that. Greek officials have not commented.

Greek officials' repeated comments that a deal is around the corner contrast sharply with an opinion piece by Tsipras published Sunday on the website of French newspaper Le Monde.

In it, Tsipras says it is not a perceived Greek intransigence that has postponed a deal, but the insistence of creditors that Greece follow the path of fiscal austerity.

"Judging from the present circumstances, it appears that this new European power is being constructed, with Greece being the first victim ... (this is) the beginning of the creation of a technocratic monstrosity that will lead to a Europe entirely alien to its founding principles," Tsipras writes.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-01

[Anthony5]

Following Sunday's conference call, Tsipras met for two hours with Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis, who told reporters he was optimistic for a deal "soon."

Sounds like they have taken lessons from the Thai.

The Greeks are saying for months already that they see a deal by the end of the week, while the side that has to provide the money, keeps saying that there is no deal in sight if the Greeks don't change their attitude.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Anthony5

[maidee]

so, more money down the drain ?

who is so dilluded to think they will ever pay back one satang, but still demanding more money ?

seems like a THAI loan, aka GIFT

[Srikcir]

The left-led Syriza government will not last beyond Summer 2015. The Greek people do not have the fortitude to make the necessary financial sacrifices to keep their nation solvent and will seek out any political party that professes to save them.

[thaibeachlovers]

Does any non Greek have any sympathy for them? Methinks not.

[soumanioco]

When the European Union was still Union of nation states, to become then a two-speed Union under the Directorate of five (Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain), made three (France, Italy, Germany), for to arrive at the Franco-German axis and from there to the brazen German Hegemony, since then until now, the European Union was preaching the abolition of national borders and the weakening of nationalism. It managed just the opposite. Although abolished national borders between the bourgeoisies of countries - members, as the boundaries for the movement of either goods and wealth, it raised chock - class - economic walls of shame among people and fierce nationalist walls in many ( too many) areas of Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

The Greek pm sees right through Merkel and Germany's plans to turn the Balkans into a "vital area" and Greece to a special economic zone, for starters.

The ultimate goal is that there will be no more countries, nor nations, just populations.

That's the new Europe.

[henry15]

Its time that the EU let the Greecks go their own way, They have have been too lenient to theml too long. The came to the EU by Cheating, They joined the Euro buy cheating. Enough is enough.

A Grexit, is the only logical way, the citizens of the EU, are sick to pay for their fantasies. And even more sick of their blackmail.

[lostinisaan]

The radical left-led Syriza government that was elected in January is running out of cash. It urgently needs to wind up negotiations with creditors on what reforms it must make to get a vital 7.2 billion euro ($7.8 billion) payment from the bailout plan that has kept it afloat for five years. Otherwise, the country could default within weeks and crash out of the euro currency union.

"Judging from the present circumstances, it appears that this new European power is being constructed, with Greece being the first victim ...

Just wondering who the victims really are????????????????

Greece, please go your own way. Time that Germany goes back to it's old currency, it's more than obvious that the European Union doesn't work out.

Now it's only about $ 7.8 billion? How much did they already receive in the past years? No wonder that the Euro goes down.

Edited June 1, 2015 by lostinisaan

[Basil B]

What is clear is every time Greece opens it,s mouth the stock markets of Europe move dramatically up or down, if only one knew what Greece was going to do and say next I could make a real killing on the stock market.

I certainly expect the FTSE to take a hammering today, as I predict within hours the Greeks will back track on any deal done the weekend and with the British banks been investigated for their involvement in FIFA money Laundering...

[thaibeachlovers]

When the European Union was still Union of nation states, to become then a two-speed Union under the Directorate of five (Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain), made three (France, Italy, Germany), for to arrive at the Franco-German axis and from there to the brazen German Hegemony, since then until now, the European Union was preaching the abolition of national borders and the weakening of nationalism. It managed just the opposite. Although abolished national borders between the bourgeoisies of countries - members, as the boundaries for the movement of either goods and wealth, it raised chock - class - economic walls of shame among people and fierce nationalist walls in many ( too many) areas of Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

The Greek pm sees right through Merkel and Germany's plans to turn the Balkans into a "vital area" and Greece to a special economic zone, for starters.

The ultimate goal is that there will be no more countries, nor nations, just populations.

That's the new Europe.

The ultimate goal is that there will be no more countries, nor nations, just populations.

I'd like that for the whole world. No countries, no nationalism, no wars, no armies. Money would be spent on doing good rather than enriching the scum dealers in death.

[sdanielmcev]

Maybe the Greeks, the founders of modern democracy, will figure out socialism doesn't work. I don't blame the EU for wanting accountability and reassurances for bailing out Greece again.

[uksomchai]

When the great Soviet Socialist union collapsed you would have thought then that that would be the end of Socialism but it wasn't. They simply moved from the East to the West and carried on regardless. The EU has proven as has the Euro to be a failed social experiment but even now the unelected powers that be refuse to end it and will carry on regardless until eventually as the once great sham of a state the USSR it implodes.

The new Greek Government was elected simply because the politicians promised the people an end to austerity. The trouble is though Socialists are financially illiterate and promise money they do not have. The same happened in Scotland where the SNP walked over all the other parties by promising the same thing as the Greek politicians. Like the Greeks they haven't the money nor any answers as to where the money is going to come from and it will end the same way for both parties soon.

I will never understand just how these people have lied to their citizens for so long and got away with it.

[Anthony5]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/night-meeting-german-chancellery-greece-074314426--finance.html

Greece submits draft bailout plan, creditors say not enough

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has submitted a proposal for an agreement with its bailout creditors, the prime minister said Tuesday, as the country seeks a deal that will unlock desperately needed rescue money.

Alexis Tspiras said it was now up to the leaders of Europe, who are Greece's main creditors, to accept a deal or risk potentially disastrous consequences for the region.

But the European Union said the sides were "not there yet."