Greece’s game of reaching a bridging deal with its European partners during the meeting of Eurozone Finance Ministers on Thursday afternoon in Luxembourg seems to have been lost and plans are currently underway for a top political level meeting this coming Monday. European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis was the first to announce that the clock has started to tick away for Greece on his personal Twitter account. According to his tweet, no agreement was reached in today’s Eurogroup and Greece should seriously engage in negotiations. European Council President Donald Tusk confirmed rumors a few minutes later, announcing that Eurozone leaders will meet to discuss the impasse in reform-for-cash talks with Greece on Monday at 5.00 pm local time. Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem revealed that there was some flexibility on the part of the institutions to examine the economic situation in Greece and allow the country to send counterproposals replacing some of the measures, but “unfortunately the proposals sent by Athens are not reliable and cannot be included in an agreement,” he said. After the Eurogroup, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici made it clear that there is not much time left for Greece. “We are now at the end of the game. It’s the time we must act and decide. Not much time left to avoid the worst. The situation is extremely serious and critical. During the last weeks, we have been trying to avoid obstacles. It is to everyone’s benefit to keep the euro project united,” he stated. Yanis Varoufakis: “There is Enough Time to Reach an Agreement.” Speaking after a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg that failed to break an impasse between Greece and its international creditors over reforms Athens must undertake in exchange for sustained financial aid, Mr Varoufakis said he presented a proposal on planned overhauls “that can, if accepted, resolve the Greek crisis once and for all.” The Greek proposal, which was presented by officials in negotiations in recent weeks has been deemed as insufficient by creditors, who say differences over spending cuts and other concessions Greece would make remain high. Mr Varoufakis said that while there isn’t much time left, “there is enough time to reach an agreement.”
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