Nikos Filis, the Greek government’s parliamentary speaker has upped the stakes in the country's long-running negotiations to reach a new deal with its international creditors by announcing that the country will miss its next repayment to the IMF if it cannot secure new bailout funds.
Speaking on Greek TV earlier today he said: "Now is the moment that negotiations are coming to a head. Now is the moment of truth on June 5th," he adds, "If there is no deal by then that will address the current funding problem, they won’t get any money."
According to Mr Filis Greece will prioritise wage and pension payments over the next IMF repayment if it receives no additional funding, saying:
"There is no money for the foreign (lenders) when they have not given us any funds for a year...We don’t have it to make the payment and this is part of the discussion."
Pierre Moscovici, European commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs spoke in Paris after these comments aired - he stuck to the party line, saying that there is still work to be done to broker a deal - but a deal is possible in the coming weeks.
He also reiterated that Greece will stay in the eurozone, saying that there is no "Plan B."
Varoufakis is back
In a potentially unhelpful move, given the open animosity between Yanis Varoufakis and his Eurogroup counterparts, the finance minister has given an interview to a German magazine and said that German minister, Wolfgang Schäuble has made mistakes dealing with Greece and that he is more concerned with countries' power rankings than their ideas.
When asked: Do you think Mr Schäuble makes mistakes in his analysis of the Greek situation? If yes, which ones?
He replied: "Yes I do (as I am sure he thinks that I err in my analysis). Primarily, he associates past Greek governments with the Greek people; as if the former reflect the character of the latter. And he does not appreciate how helpful it would be for mainstream Northern Europe to find a modus vivendi with a movement (like Syriza in Greece) which may be very critical of European institutions but which is profoundly pro-European and eager to help bring Europe closer together."
During the interview he also said that he wold like to talk economics with Mr Schäuble "in a different setting; to stage these meetings in a proper federal, democratic context in which arguments, rather than relative power, would play a more prominent role."
The 'Marxist' minister has also been talking to The New York Times. He told the paper that he is "terrified and aghast" when asked how he feels about the state of the Greek economy.
He add's that Syriza's economic bargaining has damaged Greece's economy - but says that this is a short term cost, and that he hopes to improve the lives of Greeks who are in their teenage years now - to offer them better opportunities by the time they turn 20.
On the ground
Pension and labour market reforms remain two 'red-line' issues for Syriza - pensioners are holding a protest in Athens today against cuts to welfare and healthcare spending.
Video has emerged of Syriza House Speaker, Zoi Konstantopoulou confronting police blocking part of the protest.
Protesters are also believed to have occupied the headquarters of Allianz in Athens.
Elsewhere, soundings from Athens report that Syriza could face a far-left rebellion in its own ranks with some officials arguing that the country has to leave the euro to take control of its economic future.
