Talks aimed at reaching an 11th-hour deal between Greek ministers and their bailout creditors collapsed on Sunday evening after a new economic reform proposal submitted by Athens was deemed inadequate to continue negotiations.
The breakdown is the clearest sign yet that differences between the two sides may be too wide to breach, increasing the possibility that Athens will not secure the €7.2bn in bailout aid it needs to avoid defaulting on its debts — including a €1.5bn loan repayment due to the International Monetary Fund in just two weeks.The Germans aren't amused, either:
In a sign of how far attitudes had shifted, Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s vice-chancellor and head of the country’s Social Democratic party — long seen as a more conciliatory political group — penned an article for Monday’s daily Bild newspaper in which he warned patience towards Greece in Germany was running thin.
“The game theorists of the Greek government are in the process of gambling away the future of their country,” Mr Gabriel wrote, in a thinly veiled dig at Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister who is an expert on game theory. “Europe and Germany will not let themselves be blackmailed. And we will not let the exaggerated electoral pledges of a partly communist government be paid for by German workers and their families.“
Don't anger the Germans, people. It rarely ends well.
4 comments:
Really, the endgame is already here, no matter what people do. Every lender in the world knows now that Greeks view repayment of debts as optional, and any hint of austerity out of the question. They have just told the world that they must live by the old New England proverb: Cash on the barrelhead, that's how we do business heah.
Greece's inability or unwillngness to repay isn't new; what's new is that for the first time(?) the EU is choosing not to pretend that there's a hope of getting anything back. Next question: how do you repossess a country?
Next question: how do you repossess a country?
Historically, the repo man arrived with a Panzer division. Not sure how they'll do it this time.
I'm sure the Chinese will be watching closely.
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