Brussels, 16/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - “The situation is serious (…). The Commission feels that now is the time for work, not declarations”, Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said on Monday 16 March, when asked about the statements of the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, who said that the Greek dossier could be discussed at a European summit at the end of this week.
In an interview with the Greek daily newspaper Ethnos, Tsipras said that the question of the Greek liquidity situation would be “discussed at political level by the end of this week, ahead of the summit of heads of state or, if needs be, at the summit itself” (our translation).
The same situation arose in February of this year, although the European leaders argued that the Greek dossier was a question for the Eurogroup, the body which brings together the finance ministers of the eurozone. At the February European Council, Tsipras entered into the heart of the subject, before being pulled up short by the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. Due to his apparent intention to start a debate on a dossier which was not on the agenda and not a matter for the competence of the European leaders, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, is reported to have stopped him in his tracks. Calling for restraint from all sides, he described a scenario in which Greece left the eurozone accidentally as “idiotic” and “the most dramatic chapter in history”, in an interview with six European media.
In this situation, the Commission takes the view that the priority is to move forward with the discussions underway at technical level. The aim is to reach a global agreement at technical level with the experts of the 'institutions' (Commission, ECB and IMF), in order to allow the payment of the final tranches of aid in the framework of the second Greek bailout plan, which has been extended until June.
In his interview with Ethnos, Tsipras also tackled, but did not name, some of his partners, with relations between Athens and Berlin becoming increasingly tense. “I make no secret of the fact that there are forces which prefer outright clashes to allow austerity to continue and which are, for this reason, blocking the application of the agreement of 20 February” of the Eurogroup, Tsipras said. These forces in Europe and in Greece “identify with austerity (…) and will do all in their power to scupper the attempts of the Greek people, threatening, provoking and trying to provoke political and economic panic”, said the Prime Minister, who gave his assurances that there was no threat to the payment of pensions and salaries in Greece.
On Sunday, the German newspaper FAZ had raised the possibility that the salaries and pensions of civil servants would not be paid in full at the end of this month. “Tsipras urgently needs money”, Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, told the same newspaper. “For this, he needs to convince the Eurogroup and the ECB of his willingness to undertake reforms and he has to do so next week”, Schulz added. On Friday, the Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, said that the government was prepared to postpone the implementation of its election promises until a later date in order to boost the confidence of its European partners. “I would like Greece to respect the compromise, as we all do”, Mariano Rajoy told the radio station Onda Cero on Monday, rejecting any idea that Greece may leave the eurozone.
On Monday, Greece paid €500 million back to the IMF and has to repay a further €300 million on Friday. The country is believed to be planning to issue one billion euros' worth of three-month Treasury bonds on Wednesday, according to the Greek press. (Elodie Lamer)