While Greece is facing a deadlock in debt talks the Greek government is intensifying its efforts to reach an agreement with the country's creditors.
JUNCKER: TSIPRAS MUST RESPECT SOME MINIMUM RULES
EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, speaking ahead of the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria on Sunday, said he was still waiting for Greece to produce the set of economic reform plans it had promised after rejecting creditors' demands last week.
“(Greek Prime Minister) Alexis Tsipras, my friend, had promised that by Thursday evening, he would present a second alternative proposal... I have never received this alternative proposal,” Juncker said.
Juncker vented some frustration at Tsipras for rejecting the lenders' proposals last week without telling his parliament that sticking points such as income support for pensioners had been put on the table for negotiations.
"He didn't tell parliament that we did address that subject already," said Juncker, adding that while he considered Tsipras a friend, "to remain friends one has to respect some minimum rules."
His remarks come after Tsipras on Friday slammed as "absurd" last week's proposals put forward by the European Commission, which included sales tax rises and cuts in civil servants' salaries in return for unlocking the last tranche of Greece's bailout.
Calling the EU proposals "borderline insulting," Tsipras told the Greek parliament that his government would not sign the deal without restructuring of Greece's massive debt.
Meanwhile, the President of the European Parliament has put further pressure on Greece to agree a deal with its international creditors and unlock rescue funding, warning of “dramatic consequences” if the indebted country resists compromise.
Martin Schulz told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that the anti-austerity ruling party Syriza has a responsibility towards the rest of the European Union, not simply its own voters.
Schulz has also suggested over the weekend that if Greece were to depart from the euro zone, it would spell “automatic exit from the EU” The Telegraph reports.
AHEAD OF SCHAEUBLE MEETING, VAROUFAKIS CALLS FOR MERKEL'S 'SPEECH OF HOPE'
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble will have a meeting with his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis in Berlin. Varoufakis, who will be in Berlin on Monday to give a speech of his own, will meet German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, with whom relations have often been strained.
In an entry on his blog on Sunday, Yanis Varoufakis compared Greece's situation with that of post-war Germany, when former U.S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes traveled to Stuttgart to deliver an historic speech.
Greece's finance minister called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to give his country a «Speech of Hope», to signal Europe was ready to end its demands for austerity, similar to that given to Germany at the end of World War Two.
Varoufakis said in his blog that Greece was committed to making its stricken economy competitive again, but a «Speech of Hope» would make the difference by restoring morale to its citizens.
TSIPRAS TO MEET HOLLANDE AND MERKEL IN BRUSSELS ON WEDNESDAY
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to hold talks with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande on the fringes of a summit in Brussels next week, according to a Greek government official.
The three leaders held a telephone conference call on Saturday which was described as taking place in a good atmosphere.
The content of the conversation was not divulged, but given the standoff between Greece and its euro zone and IMF creditors over the country’s stricken finances, any attempts to break the deadlock are bound to be welcomed.