Greece today said it would present new proposals to its EU-IMF creditors to reach a debt deal as the country's outspoken finance minister called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to make a "clear decision" at an emergency eurozone summit.
European Union heads are waiting for Greece's anti- austerity government to present new economic reform and budget proposals, and Greek Minister of State Alekos Flambouraris said today Athens would propose re-worked measures.
The pressure has mounted on Greece ahead of an emergency summit of the leaders of the 19 countries in the euro area on Monday in Brussels.
But the country's finance chief Yanis Varoufakis, whose flamboyant style has irked many of his European counterparts, turned the tables putting the onus on the leader of paymaster Germany to make a deal.
Merkel can "enter into an honourable agreement with a government, which has rejected the 'rescue package' and is seeking a negotiated solution, or follow the calls from (those in) her government who want her to throw overboard the only Greek government which has been faithful to its principles and which is able to take the Greek people on the road to reform," said Varoufakis in an article to appear in the German press on Sunday.
German public opinion has soured on Greece after five months of contentious negotiations, with a recent poll showing 51 percent now believes Athens should leave the eurozone.
But the leftist Greek government insists it will present compromises that should bring Athens and its creditors -- European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank -- closer to agreement on freeing up 7.2 billion euros (USD 8.1 billion) in blocked bailout funds Greece desperately needs to meet looming debt payments to the IMF and ECB.
"We are going to present measures that bridge the gap," Flambouraris was quoted as saying by Greek media, while also predicting Greece's creditors won't be satisfied with the gestures.
"You'll see they won't accept loosening budget (restrictions), or our proposal on the debt," he said of two main sticking points in the talks.
Given the continued deadlock and ticking clock towards potential default, Flambouraris said a phone exchange between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker could take place on Saturday.
