Eurogroup calls an extraordinary meeting on Greece
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Eurogroup calls an extraordinary meeting on Greece

Eurogroup calls an extraordinary meeting on Greece

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(AGI) Rome, June 30 - Brussels remains in a frenzy whileseeking a solution for Greece. The European Commission made alast ditch attempt to bring the Greek Prime Minister, AlexisTsipras, back to the negotiating table. Mr Tsipras raised hisbid with a counterproposal consisting of a 2-year ESM (EuropeanStability Mechanism) bailout programme and further debtrestructuring. German Chancellor Angela Merkel frozeexpectations of reaching a solution, by informing the mediathat, in her opinion, "there will be no development on Greecetoday." The Eurogroup decided to call an extraordinary meetingat 7 p.m. on Tuesday to discuss Athens's new initiative. Tuesday morning Brussels had stretched out a hand to the Greekgovernment by asking it to launch a 'yes' campaign for thereferendum in exchange for discussions about possible debtreduction and resubmission of the draft ageement presentedSaturday by the Institutions. EU sources reported that thepresident of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had toldTsipras he was willing to call an emergency Eurogroup meetingon Tuesday to pass the immediate allocation of new funds if theGreek premier sent a written acceptance of the terms proposedby the creditors promoting a new programme. Juncker is reportedto have promised to reschedule Athens's debt if the 'yes' votewon at the referendum. Tsipras, for his part, is said to haveevaluated the proposal and to have presented a counterproposalafter having discussed it with Juncker and Draghi over thephone. The Greek authorities are in continuous contact bothwith Brussels and with the European Central Bank. The outcomeof the Greek referendum does not seem to worry the Italiangovernment. "Italy is already out of the line of fire," PrimeMinister Matteo Renzi told the Italian newspaper 'Sole24ore'only minutes after talking on the phone with Tsipras. "Myconcern is not for what could happen to Italy but for theglobally difficult scenarios that could open up," Mr Renzisaid. "Utmost respect for the decisions of the Greekpeople and government" was also expressed by Italian EconomyMinister, Pier Carlo Padoan, who defended the behaviour of theItalian cabinet, which some accused of having been absent fromthe debate over Greece. "The government has always beencommitted to obtaining results rather than promotingvisibility," Mr Padoan said. (AGI). .
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