Greece Nears Euro Exit as Bailout Talks Break Up without Agreement

THE GUARDIAN: Last-ditch negotiations to resume on Sunday after eurozone’s fiscal hawks put up fierce resistance to Alexis Tsipras’s rescue plan

Greece’s final attempt to avoid being kicked out of the euro by securing a new three-year bailout worth up to €80bn ran into a wall of resistance from the eurozone’s fiscal hawks on Saturday.

Finland rejected any more funding for the country and Germany called for Greece to be turfed out of the currency bloc for at least five years.

The last-chance talks between the 19 eurozone finance ministers in Brussels ended at midnight, as they struggled to draft a policy paper for national leaders at yet another emergency summit on Sunday that was billed as the decisive meeting.

With Greece on the edge of financial and social implosion, eurozone finance ministers met to decide on the country’s fate and on what to do about its debt crisis, after experts from the troika of creditors said that new fiscal rigour proposals from Athens were good enough to form “the basis for negotiations”.

But the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, dismissed that view, supported by a number of northern and eastern European states. “These proposals cannot build the basis for a completely new, three-year [bailout] programme, as requested by Greece,” said a German finance ministry paper. It called for Greece to be expelled from the eurozone for a minimum of five years and demanded that the Greek government transfer €50bn of state assets to an outside agency for sell-off. » | Ian Traynor in Brussels | Saturday, July 11, 2015

24 Hours to Save the Euro: Germany Prepares for a 'Temporary' Greek Exit as Euro Project on the Brink of Collapse

THE TELEGRAPH: Berlin readies humanitarian aid for Greece proposing a five-year expulsion from the euro, after Athens is accused of destroying the trust of its partners

The German government has begun preparations for Greece to be ejected from the eurozone, as the European Union faces 24 hours to rescue the single currency project from the brink of collapse.

Nine hours of acrimonious talks on Saturday night, saw finance ministers fail break the deadlock with Greece over a new bail-out package, accusing Athens of destroying their trust. It leaves the future of the eurozone in tatters only 15 years after its inception.

In a weekend billed as Europe’s last chance to save the monetary union, ministers will now reconvene on Saturday [?] morning ahead of an EU leaders' summit later in the evening, to thrash out an agreement or decide to eject Greece from the eurozone.

Should no deal be forthcoming, the German government has made preparations to negotiate a temporary five-year euro exit, providing Greece with humanitarian aid while it makes the transition.

An incendiary plan drafted by Berlin's finance ministry, with the backing of Angela Merkel, laid out two stark options for Greece: either the government submits to drastic measures such as placing €50bn of its assets in a trust fund to pay off its debts, and have Brussels take over its public administration, or agree to a "time-out" solution where it would be expelled from the eurozone. » | Mehreen Khan | Saturday, July 11, 2015

Grexit Beckons: Greece On Brink of Euro Exit as It Faces Economic Meltdown

THE TELEGRAPH: Embattled country could be forced out by Germany after politicians warn 'enough is enough' as it lurches towards default on €1.5bn debt

Greece is on the brink of economic meltdown after Germany appeared poised to push the country out of the eurozone.

With the embattled country set to default on a €1.5billion (£1.1billion) debt repayment, senior German politicians warned that “enough is enough”.

London’s FTSE 100 slipped 1.1 per cent to a three-month low on Monday as investors reacted to Greece’s failure to reach a deal with its creditors.

Global oil prices also fell after negotiations collapsed after just 45 minutes on Sunday, amid fears that Greece is now heading towards financial catastrophe.

As the crisis intensified, it emerged that George Osborne, the Chancellor, will later this week chair an emergency meeting as ministers seek to protect Britain’s economy from a potential Greek exit from the single currency - dubbed a Grexit.

Officials want to ensure that the Government has “contingency plans” in place to ensure that UK businesses are not damaged by a Greek withdrawal. » | Peter Dominiczak, Political Editor | Tuesday, June 16, 2015


THE TELEGRAPH: Enough is enough, Greece must leave the euro: The Greek debt crisis is now five years old, and still there is no workable settlement in sight. One apparent denouement follows another, lending Europe a sense of permanent crisis and conflict, not so dissimilar to an outright war, at least in terms of the entrenched positions adopted and the vitriol of the language. » | Telegraph View | Tuesday, June 16, 2015

DIE WELT: Merkel will "alles tun", um Griechenland zu halten » | Mittwoch, 17. Juni 2015