Greece in crunch meeting as fears of default grow

Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis will face his euro zone counterparts at a crunch eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg today amid mounting fears that Greece is moving closer to default.

The continuing standoff between the Greek government and its official creditors showed no sign of abating yesterday, with stock markets falling across Europe.

Amid confirmation that the German and British chancelleries are making contingency plans for the expiration of Greece’s bailout programme on June 30th, Greece’s main negotiator Euclid Tsakalotos said yesterday that Greece did not have the cash to make a €1.5 billion repayment to the IMF due at the end of the month.

However, in a sign that Greece may be prepared to compromise to secure a deal, Mr Tsakalotos also said that Greece would be willing to make concessions, though he warned that pension cuts were non-negotiable.

Recriminations

Following days of public recriminations by the two sides in the increasingly acrimonious standoff between Greece and its three official creditors, the

European Commission

disputed claims by Greek prime minister

Alexis Tsipras

that lenders were imposing “humiliating” terms on Greece.

Speaking in Brussels, EU Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said the commission was "ready to discuss other measures" with Greece, including alternatives to controversial proposals on VAT for electricity and pharmaceutical products as well as supplementary payments for low-income pensioners.

The Latvian commissioner said Jean-Claude Juncker had already made proposals to exclude medicines from VAT but the Greek authorities had not responded.

EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici told reporters the lenders' proposals were "perfectly reasonable", and insisted that the ball was in Greece's court. EU sources told The Irish Times that discussions between the European Commission and Greek authorities had stopped, with the commission awaiting the next move from Greece.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble told a parliamentary hearing in Berlin that the German finance ministry was making contingency plans in the event that the Greek bailout, which expires on June 30th, is not extended.

A British government spokeswoman said plans for a possible Greek default were also being considered.

Postponed

While there was little signs of dialogue between the two sides, a planned vote on the election of the next eurogroup chairman at today’s eurogroup meeting was postponed, suggesting Greece would take priority at today’s meeting.

However, some EU officials played down the prospect of a conclusive result at today’s meeting, raising the possibility of a further euro zone summit before next Thursday and Friday’s leaders’ summit in Brussels. With no technical talks planned between officials ahead of today’s meeting, expectations were low of a deal.

With Greece facing a €1.5 billion repayment to the IMF on June 30th and further repayments amounting to close to €7 billion to the European Central Bank in July and August, the country is under severe pressure to unlock €7.2 billion of bailout funds due to it under the terms of its stalled bailout programme.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warn that time is running out for Greece on a bailout package. “It won’t work without Greece moving significantly,” he said yesterday in Berlin.