Last night German Chancellor Angela Merkel held an unscheduled emergency meeting in Berlin with Greece's creditors. In addition to Merkel, Francois Hollande and Jean-Claude Juncker, the IMF's Christine Lagarde and ECB's Mario Draghi were also in attendance.
According to the Guardian, The meeting took place from around 9.30pm until midnight, and though rumours spread that concessions would be agreed, the commission paper drawn up offered none.
Concurrently, a cabinet meeting was held in Athens and a "comprehensive proposal" sent to Greece's creditors. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says it contains specific, realistic proposals, and that the decision on agreement now rests on European leaders, as Greece has conceded enough all ready.
Today various members of the SYRIZA government have been re-iterating that position - that they will not accept further austerity measures.
Deputy Premier Yannis Dragasakis said any Troika ultimatum would be rejected: “As a government neither do we accept ultimatums not do we bow to blackmail,” he tweeted.
Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity Panos Skourletis, speaking to SKAI TV, raised the possibility of a snap election if SYRIZA should be pushed past their mandate:
“If a deal is achieved that is not deemed honourable and promoting of compromise, the people will have to be asked before we sign it.”
Should another election take place, it is highly unlikely we would see any new faces. The most recent poll puts support for the coalition at 54 per cent.
Spanish radio station Cadena SER reports that creditors will offer Greece €12.9bn if Tsipras accepts 70 per cent of the bailout programme. Curiously, this is the exact percentage of the programme that Greece already accepts, according to Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
The Greek government has also said it is confident in can make Friday's €300m repayment to the IMF as long as a deal with creditors is reached, even without further funds.
Despite increasingly fraught dialogue and looming deadlines, European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici issued an optimistic statement:
“The discussions are fruitful, they are bearing fruit, there is real progress with a better understanding by both the Greek government and its creditors.”
“In the coming weeks we have to find a solution, I think we are doing it but efforts still need to be made on both sides.”
