Talks between Greece and its European partners are going on and on, with no resolution so far. Greece asks for some relief in austerity and the Germany says that the only way is to extend the current plan without any changes. Greece is now preparing an extension request that focuses only on the loan and that will probably differ from current plan. As things seem now, it will be “Dead On Arrival”.
As money is drained from banks in Greece in some kind of a “bank marathon” and time is running out, perhaps only a meeting between the leaders of Greece and Germany is the key to a breakthrough.
Why can’t it work on the finance ministers levels? Well, German FM Wolfgang Schäuble and his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis had an acrimonious first meeting in which Schäuble said they agreed to disagree and Varoufakis said they didn’t even agree on that.
Since then, Greece was presented a draft it could sign on in Monday’s Eurogroup meetings only to see it withdrawn later on. Varoufakis is very outspoken and so is Schäuble, which is very stubborn as well.
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is already different: her soft spoken tone accompanies a willingness to change her mind in seconds: she supported nuclear energy until the Fukishima disaster and then abolished it. Her party rejected a minimum wage until it became popular with the German public and she endorsed it.
Now, having her involved means a meeting at the levels of heads of state. Their meeting last Thursday was described as “friendly”. In that meeting, there was a proposal that Greece felt it could sign on, before things toughened up late on Monday.
Can they reach some kind of compromise in a meeting between them? As the clock ticks fast towards the end of the month, such a crucial meeting could be the only way forward.
Here, we are still optimistic that a deal could be reached.
What do you think?
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