Even though Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras indicated his government had submitted its offer by the end of the day, and that negotiations would begin quickly, without clarifying if it was a verbal or written proposal.
Tsipras said Tuesday the proposal was what had been formulated as a national strategy by a political leaders’ meeting in Athens, but didn’t specify if it was a written or verbal proposal.
He said it contains “credible reforms that are socially just and include in reciprocity a commitment to cover the country’s financial needs in the medium term, a strong investment package to counter big problems such as unemployment, as well as the start of substantial talks and the restructuring of debt.”
He said the discussion with other eurozone leaders Tuesday “took place in a positive climate” and said he expects the process to reach an agreement will be speedy.
“It will begin in the next few hours with the aim of concluding until the end of the week at the latest,” he said.
Following the heads of state meeting, European leaders drew a line in the sand: Greece has to come up with a proposal they consider workable in the next few days, and everyone needs to be on board with it by Sunday, or the EU and the euro zone will have to start looking at the (still unspoken) Plan B.
French President Francois Hollande says Greece still needs to make “credible and serious proposals” that prove it wants to remain part of the 19-nation eurozone.
The French leader spoke to reporters late Tuesday after an inconclusive summit meeting of nations using the euro.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earlier said his government had submitted proposals, but it was unclear whether it meant anything more than the general direction of staving off too tough austerity and insisting on debt restructuring.
Respecting the rules, Hollande said, “is a condition of living together.”
“What’s at stake is to know the place of Greece in the European Union and thus the eurozone,” Hollande said.
“Today, there is no more time to waste.”
Meanwhile, Greece’s new finance minister clearly wanted to avoid alienating his European colleagues as had his fast-talking predecessor.
Euclid Tsakolotos took a note to their first meeting that read: “No triumphalism” and appeared to have made speaking notes for himself.
After “update on political situation”, he appeared to refer to the referendum with “Ref, of course … rejection of instit(ution)s proposals … mostly I think on viability grounds.”
It seemed to work. Several officials found him easier to deal with than Yanis Varoufakis, his fellow Marxist academic economist who resigned after Sunday’s referendum, saying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras felt talks would go more smoothly without him.
As euro zone leaders convened a summit late on Tuesday to discuss prospects for Greece, one official familiar with the ministers’ talks said of Tsakolotos, “Much better than Varoufakis. More conciliatory, constructive – and modest.”
Sources: Reuters, Kathimerini, US News, Daily Telegraph