A meeting on the sidelines of the European Summit between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, has concluded. The three leaders, who arranged late on Thursday evening according to the Athens-Macedonia News Agency, met at the offices of the French delegation at the Council of the European Union and did not make any comments on arrival.
Reuters has reported that the three European leaders discussed the possibility of extending the current Greek bailout program, while expires at the end of July. Furthermore, the report claims that the Greek Prime Minister questioned the persistence of the creditors on such harsh measures.
According to Greek government official who spoke to Reuters, the negotiations between the Greek government and the institutions are set to continue after the conclusion of the European Summit on Friday and ahead of Saturday’s Eurogroup. The Eurogroup in Brussels on Saturday is scheduled for 5pm local time (6pm in Greece).
Meanwhile, the Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir expressed his frustration over the ongoing negotiations for Greece and noted that although a deadline has been set for Saturday, he expected the talks to carry on until Sunday. Similarly, the president of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem claimed that while an agreement with Greece was still possible, it required a stronger reform package.
The Italian and Lithuanian Prime Ministers, Matteo Renzi and Algirdas Butkevičius, both appeared optimistic of an agreement being reached. Mr. Renzi argued that he as certain of an agreement on Saturday.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann was more reserved in his estimations and noted that while there was optimism for an agreement, he explained that there were “four to five” different view points on Greece and that the talks regarding Greece in the first day of the Summit was not extensive. As such there was no clear view as to what would occur if an agreement was not reached.
The spokesperson for the German Ministry of Finances Martin Jäger commented that Greece’s international creditors have made compromises in the talks so far and that it was now time for Greece to make a move and accept, what he dubbed, a “very generous” offer.
