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Financial Times, May 31, 2015 6:52 pm
Tsipras accuses Greece bailout monitors of making ‘absurd’ demands
Peter Spiegel in Brussels
Greece’s chances of striking a deal to access a much-needed €7.2bn in
rescue aid looked even bleaker on Sunday after Alexis Tsipras, prime
minister, accused bailout monitors of making “absurd” demands and
seeking to impose “harsh punishment” on Athens.
Mr Tsipras’s accusations, made in Le Monde newspaper, came only days
after his government claimed an agreement was imminent. They have
increased the sense of chaos around negotiations in the week many
believe a deal is needed to avoid a Greek default.
On Friday, Athens is scheduled to make a €300m loan repayment to the
International Monetary Fund that is being closely watched by creditors
after some Greek ministers hinted that it might not be met without
bailout aid. A further €1.2bn of IMF payments fall due over the
subsequent two weeks.
Several eurozone officials fear that, without a deal this week, there
will not be time for Greece to legislate and implement an agreed list of
new economic reforms before the end of the month, when its bailout
expires. The uncertainty has sparked large-scale withdrawals from Greek
banks, with about €800m taken out in just two days last week — renewing
fears of a full-scale bank run.
Greece’s three bailout monitors — the IMF, European Commission and
European Central Bank — must sign off on the new reforms before the
funds will be released, but in his Le Monde article, Mr Tsipras accused
them of being unyielding in the face of significant Greek concessions.
“The lack of an agreement so far is not due to the supposed
intransigent, uncompromising and incomprehensible Greek stance,” Mr
Tsipras wrote. “It is due to the insistence of certain institutional
actors on submitting absurd proposals and displaying a total
indifference to the recent democratic choice of the Greek people.”
The criticism appears directed at the IMF, which has taken the hardest
line of the three institutions, particularly regarding cuts in public
sector pensions, which Mr Tsipras described as already having been
excessively slashed. EU leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of
Germany, have specifically warned Mr Tsipras that no deal is possible
without IMF approval.
In an apparent attack on Berlin, Mr Tsipras also accused some within the
EU of trying to break up the eurozone by centralising power among “core”
euro members and tying the rest to “extreme neoliberalism” through EU
budget rules. Germany has been the leading advocate of such rules and
strong, centralised power in Brussels to enforce them.
Eurozone officials have in recent days accused Mr Tsipras’s government
of using similar public statements as a negotiating ploy, attempting to
divide the IMF from the European Commission — which has been urging a
compromise deal more acceptable to Athens — and failing to engage in
substantive talks in Brussels.
But Mr Tsipras himself has long been seen by creditors as their best
hope for a deal. He personally intervened in February to extend the
current bailout by four months after negotiations with more hardline
lower-level officials faltered.
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