Eurozone finance ministers and leaders meet in new effort to find a dealNew Greek proposals expected to be presented todayTimetable for Eurogroup meeting and leaders’ summit16 of 18 eurozone countries “want Greece to leave”EC president Juncker: ready to do whatever necessary for Greek pact 8.46am BST Twitter (Varoufakis quits announcement), Facebook (Italian prime minister’s latest view on what must be done), and now texting. The modern way to run a crisis.Now that's a relief: @JunckerEU says he's texting @tsipras_eu . Crisis solved! 8.37am BST Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, will reportedly be staying at home rather than attending the day’s meetings in Brussels.Not a surprise really. Greece is already in arrears with the IMF after failing to make a $1.5bn payment due at the end of last month, so it is unlikely the fund would be taking part in any new bailout until that money is paid. 8.29am BST And if 16 out of 18 eurozone countries are in favour of Greece leaving then who are the other two?@notayesmansecon France and Cyprus?@notayesmansecon @minefornothing I suspect France and Italy?@notayesmansecon @minefornothing don't think so - France because they've been softer on Greece and Italy cos they could be next 8.25am BST Investors remain cautious ahead of the day’s meetings, with markets edging higher in early trading.The FTSE 100 has added 0.1%, France’s Cac is 0.2% better, Germany’s Dax has risen 0.14%, Italy’s FTSE MIB is up 0.6%, and Spain’s Ibex has added 0.2%. 8.19am BST And today’s “Ball is in the Greek’s court Award” goes to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.Speaking in Strasbourg, he said:LIVE: @JunckerEU addresses @Europarl_EN: the ball is on #Greece's court; it 'll have to explain how we reach an agreementThe Greek gov must explain in Bxl today how it sees us extricating ourselves from this situation. #Greece #EurosummitEC Juncker: "I am against #Grexit. Some in EU are openly or covered in favor of Grexit. EC will do anything against it" #Greece#Juncker: 'Very saddened that Greek gov't left the negotiating table'*JUNCKER: EU READY TO DO WHATEVER NECESSARY TO REACH GREEK PACTJuncker: Is is unacceptable for the #greece govt to call us "terrorists"#Juncker: the Commission and its President have tried hard to find deal, if only everyone had tried as hard 8.07am BST Interesting snippet in the report on Monday’s events by Greek newspaper Kathimerini:According to sources in Brussels, 16 of the other 18 countries in the eurozone are in favor of letting Greece leave the eurozone and they will have to weigh up the cost of any agreement to keep Athens in the single currency. 7.58am BST Breaking news:S&P Believes That Greece Could Default On Debt Payment As Soon As This Week -Situation In Greece Is Leading To Return Of Econ. Depression 7.57am BST Here are the expected timings for two Brussels meetings later.First the Eurogroup of finance ministers: 7.47am BST And European markets are forecast to open higher ahead of the day’s key meetings:Our European opening calls: $FTSE 6557 up 21 $DAX 10931 up 40 $CAC 4726 up 15 $IBEX 10590 up 50 $MIB 21707 up 106 7.46am BST Markets came under pressure on Monday following the No victory in the Greek referendum, but things were nothing like as bad as some had feared. Economist Ian Williams at Peel Hunt said:Given the apocalyptic predictions of the consequences of a Greek ‘no’ vote made before the weekend, losses of around 2% for the Eurozone indices should have been greeted with a sigh of relief. Similarly, the moves in Eurozone bond markets were modest, in the context of recently heightened levels of volatility. That sanguine response may not be so much based on optimism that a compromise deal can still be reached (given the removal of Mr Varoufakis) as reflecting a judgement that, even if Grexit is now more likely than before, the broader economic consequences for the region can be contained.The Eurozone’s peripheral markets were understandably less sanguine than the core, with Italy’s MIB index losing 4% and the IBEX in Spain 2.2%. Related: China stocks tumble again after premier Li Keqiang fails to mention crisis 7.38am BST Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the continuing eurozone crisis and the latest attempts to broker a deal between Greece and its creditors.With time running out - to quote German Chancellor Angela Merkel - Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras is set to present new proposals following his resounding victory in Sunday’s referendum.Germany and France scrambled to avoid a major split over Greece on Monday evening as the eurozone delivered a damning verdict on Alexis Tsipras’s landslide referendum victory on Sunday and Angela Merkel demanded that the Greek prime minister put down new proposals to break the deadlock.As concerns mount that Greek banks will run out of cash and about the damage being inflicted on the country’s economy, hopes for a breakthrough faded. EU leaders voiced despair and descended into recrimination over how to respond to Sunday’s overwhelming rejection of eurozone austerity terms as the price for keeping Greece in the currency. Related: Eurozone struggles to find joint response to Greek referendum [The ECB move} is likely to increase criticism that the central bank is getting involved in exerting political pressure and acting beyond its mandate of price stability, and as lender of last resort, which any credible central bank should do as a matter of course. All the ECB has done is make it more likely that Greek banks will run out of money in a matter of days. Furthermore it remains highly unlikely that the Greek government will be able to make it to the next key payment deadline of 20th July when a €3.5bn bond to the ECB becomes repayable. Continue reading...
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