Greek Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras requested on Tuesday a special five-party meeting of European
leaders shortly before Thursday's EU summit on the Greek debt crisis, Greek
government sources said.
In a telephone
conversation with European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday, Tsipras
called for a meeting with the latter, European Commission chief Jean-Claude
Juncker, European Central Bank head Mario Draghi, the German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
European Commission
spokeswoman Mina Andreeva implied that there was such a request and the matter
was being examined, the Greek news agency AMNA reported.
In an interview with a
Greek daily on Monday, Tsipras said that he expected that the Greek cash
shortage issue could be resolved on a political level even before the March 19
EU summit.
The Greek leader
received an official invitation by Merkel to visit Berlin on March 23 and a
second invitation to pay a visit to Moscow and hold talks with the Russian
President Vladimir Putin on April 8, according to his office.
Athens puts particular
emphasis on the talks with the German leader amidst efforts to ease tensions
caused by remarks of Greek and German officials in recent weeks over the
management of the Greek debt crisis.
The Greek government
was under increasing pressure to improve ties with the country's creditors and
persuade them to release in coming weeks further aid, as state coffers were
depleting.
According to the
latest Finance Ministry estimates, Greece's 2014 primary surplus was revised
downwards to 0.3 percent of GDP from a 1.5 percent figure estimated by the
previous conservative-led government.
The new government
acknowledged a 2.2 billion euros (2.34 billion US dollars) shortfall in
revenues which, according to local financial analysts, will most likely make
even more difficult the ongoing negotiations with lenders for the terms of the
disbursement of fresh funding to Athens.
Under the Eurogroup
February 20 deal which bridges the expired in February four-year bailout with a
final comprehensive agreement on the Greek crisis due in June, Athens will
receive funds again after the completion of a review of its finances by the
institutions in April. Technical teams are currently working on this
assessment.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου