EU leaders warn Greece's aid could be delayed

The Telegraph ^ | 11/20/2012 | Louise Armitstead, and Bruno Waterfield

[bruinbirdman]

European leaders warned that the vital tranche of international aid may not be released to Greece until December as in-fighting and indecision dogged another summit in Brussels.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurogroup of finance minister, said that although Greece had delivered on its commitments, he was “not sure” a deal on the €31.5bn Athens’ is due could be reached of overnight as planned.

Heading into talks in Brussels, eurozone finance ministers warned that disagreement over Greece’s debt reduction targets among the international paymasters could see the talks spill over into Thursday's leaders summit or beyond.

Brussels wants to given Greece two more years to reduce its debt to 120pc of GDP but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) insists the 2020 target is maintained.

However, one option discussed last night was a 10 year moratorium on interest payments that Greece is due to start paying on bail-out monies from 2022. If agreed, the deal would mean that Athens would save €44bn.

Eurozone leaders insisted that the priority was to reach agreement overnight.

Sources said Greece may get €44bn because December’s tranche might be folded in by the time the decision is made but leaders insisted that the priority was to reach agreement overnight. Germany’s Wolfgang Schauble said: “We have no argument with the IMF.

The IMF has its own conditions on what is sustainable and what isn’t... we now have to find a common solution. It’s not easy, otherwise we wouldn’t need that many meetings.”

France’s Pierre Moscovici said: “Everyone has to be ready to cross his red lines. If everyone puts a little water in his wine, we’ll get there. We have elements of a consensus on the table.” He added: “The Greek government has made a huge effort. Now it is our responsibility to help find a solution

[bruinbirdman]

Voice of the people
I Kathimerini, Athens

"What are all these people doing?"

"They're celebrating the Nobel prize we won."

[mykroar]

Is it not about 3 years past time to let Greece drown?

[bruinbirdman]

"Is it not about 3 years past time to let Greece drown?"

Angela Merkel: "But what does this Cynegeirus* want?"

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble: "He wants to stay in Europe at all costs"

yitbos

*Cynegeirus, brother of ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus, died fighting a retreating Persian ship after the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, for which his countrymen extolled him as a hero. According to legend, when he lost his right hand, he grasped the enemy's vessel with his left. Then, having successively lost both his hands, he hung on by his teeth.