Europe came close to catastrophe for over 2.5 billion euros as the talks between Greece and its creditors for a new bailout deal last weekend almost failed, European Council President Donald Tusk said. Tusk gave an interview to Greek newspaper Kathimerini in which he described the 17-hour meeting of Eurozone leaders that almost led Greece to bankruptcy and out of the Eurozone, but ended with a bailout deal. The deal that was struck early Monday morning came after Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel argued strongly over how much money from a Greek privatization fund would be allocated for investment. “During the negotiations, around 7:00 in the morning, when Tsipras and Merkel asked for a break, I felt that the risk that they would fail was very close,” Tusk told the daily newspaper. “At that time their difference was only 2.5 billion euros,” he said. “It was at that point that I told them that if the negotiations had ended without a result, I would have been ready to announce publicly that Europe was close to catastrophe for 2.5 billion euros.” The German Bundestag will vote for Greece’s third bailout on Friday amid opposition from the country’s conservative lawmakers. Germany is Greece’s biggest creditor. The Greek Parliament has already approved the deal that includes several harsh austerity reforms. “The most important thing in the negotiations was to help Greece. However, we had to discuss the medium and long-term consequences of a Grexit as a chaotic and unpredictable procedure with political and geopolitical impact,” Tusk said. “It was a necessary solution to avert the risk of immediate chaos and default but it’s just the first step,” he said.
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