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Europe's refusal to draw up contingency plans to prepare for the failure of negotiations with Greece is alarming some euro-area finance ministers.
Slovenian finance chief Dusan Mramor led the calls at a meeting of the bloc's 19 finance chiefs on Friday to consider a "plan B" to mitigate the fallout if negotiations with Greece fail. Several others raised similar concerns during official talks and in private conversations at a meeting in Riga, Latvia, on Friday, two people with knowledge of the discussions said.
"What my discussion was about was what we will do if no new program will be achieved in time for Greece to be able to refinance itself or improve liquidity," Mramor told reporters on Saturday. "A plan B can be anything."
As Greece struggles to pay pensions and salaries, its government has failed to present a plan to revamp its economy that passes muster with euro-area officials. In February, finance ministers gave the Greek government until the end of June to complete the deal and said they expected a list of reforms by the end of April. Friday's meeting, which European Union officials had for weeks identified as the moment when the list would be considered, instead descended into attacks on Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis for his failure to deliver.
"Some countries have said, because of their concern on the lack of progress and the attitude on the Greek side, 'if it continues like this, we will really get into trouble,'" Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who led Friday's meeting, said.
