Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be in Brussels on Wednesday to meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Tsipras, will be presented with what is expected to be a take-it-or-leave-it plan on Wednesday after five months of drama-filled negotiations to keep his debt-stricken country afloat. The agreement, reached after emergency talks in Berlin on Monday, would unlock 7.2 billion euros in rescue loans but demand tough economic changes in return.
PM Tsipras is scheduled to fly to Brussels at the request of the EU commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, a Greek government official said.
The announcement followed an earlier statement that Athens had submitted a 47-page proposal to its three creditors; the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the EU, that includes projections of a primary budget surplus of 0.8 percent of gross domestic product this year, down from a target of 1.5 percent in April, state-run Athens News Agency reported. It includes a commitment to a surplus of 1.5 percent in 2016, as well as introduction of three different sales-tax rates, ANA said.
Sources suggested the proposal had been submitted by Athens before the leaders of France, Germany, the IMF and the ECB held emergency talks on the Greek debt crisis on Monday evening in Berlin.
“We have submitted a realistic plan for Greece to exit the crisis. A realistic plan, whose acceptance by the institutions, our lenders and our partners in Europe will mark the end of the scenario of divisions in Europe,” the prime minister said. “It is now clear that the decision for whether they want to adapt to realism and emerge from the crisis without the division of Europe…belongs to the political leaders of Europe,” he added.
Athens' proposal met with an optimistic but tepid response from lenders. Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday there were signs that Athens was more motivated than before to reach an agreement with its creditors, but warned the Greek government must be “honest” with its voters.
“There are signs that Greece and (Greek Prime Minister Alexis) Tsipras are motivated to achieve a breakthrough,” Dijsselbloem said in an interview with RTL Nieuws. “We aren't far enough along and time is pressing.”
“Sometimes you can win elections with too many promises and then you have to go back to your voters and say ... in these circumstances we can't deliver on them,” he said “That is the message the Greek government must give its voters honestly.”