Greece races to restart talks with creditors
BRUSSELS — With his country struggling to stave off financial collapse, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will try to convince European creditors to agree on a new bailout program when they meet today for an emergency eurozone summit.
Tsipras is set to offer a new plan of economic measures to creditors that he hopes will restart negotiations on getting new loans for his country. The situation is urgent — without a deal, Greece’s banks could go bust within days, the first step in the country’s potential exit from the euro currency union.
Greece’s financial distress became more acute late Monday when the European Central Bank refused to increase assistance for Greek banks, which are not due to reopen until Thursday.
A hastily arranged meeting of eurozone finance ministers, which will be Euclid Tsakalotos’ first as Greek finance minister, is slated for the afternoon in Brussels. A full summit of leaders will then follow.
European officials were cautious about the prospects for progress.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Union’s executive Commission, indicated a comprehensive deal for Greece was unlikely to be reached today.
“Were we to come up with a solution today, it would be an overly simplistic solution,” he told European lawmakers ahead of the meetings. “What we’re going to do today is talk to each other, understand each other, show tolerance to each other and restore order to the situation.”
The eurozone’s top official, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said the pressure was on Greece to present an acceptable deal, since its position was increasingly dire financially.
“The Greek government has a major interest in coming forward quickly with serious and credible proposals,” said Dijsselbloem, who is the Dutch finance minister and chairs meetings with his eurozone counterparts.
The upcoming talks follow Tsipras’ bigger-than-expected win in Sunday’s bailout referendum, when 61 percent of Greek voters rejected measures creditors had proposed last week in exchange for loans.
In a sign he may be willing to compromise, Tsipras appointed a new finance minister to lead talks with creditors.
Tsakalotos, a 55-year-old economist, has replaced Yanis Varoufakis, who constantly clashed with his peers.
