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Roundup: Eurogroup rejects Greek bailout extension request

Xinhua, June 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Saturday that 18 Eurogroup financial ministers have rejected Greece's request for an extension so that it could put the creditors' proposals to a popular vote on July 5.

"The current financial assistance arrangement with Greece will expire on June 30," according to an official statement released by the Eurogroup after an emergency financial ministers' meeting in Brussels.

"I am regretful to say that the program will expire on Tuesday night," Dijsselbloem confirmed at a press conference after the meeting. "That is the latest date we could reach an agreement."

The creditors have offered joint proposals to the Greek side on Thursday "given the prolonged deadlock in negotiations and the urgency of the situation."

"Regrettably, despite efforts at all levels and full support of the Eurogroup, this proposal has been rejected by the Greek authorities who broke off the program negotiations late on the 26 June unilaterally," the statement said.

Earlier the day, the Greek government announced a suggestion to put creditors' Thursday proposal to a popular vote on next Sunday, July 5. The Greek parliament's vote on the suggestion is under way in Athens.

It was not the institutions but the Greek government that walks away from talks, Dijsselbloem said.

The Greek Financial Minister Yanis Varoufakis decided to leave afternoon's talks. He told reporters that Greece will still fight for a deal up to the last moment. "I do not want to speculate on failure."

He also warned that the group's refusal will "certainly damage the credibility for the Eurogroup as a democratic union."

The Eurozone's other ministers later reconvened a second meeting without Varoufakis, aiming to "discuss any of consequences from the political position taken by the Greek government."

At the final press conference after their three-hour meeting, Dijsselbloem told the press that ministers' rejection-decision is "not good enough."

"But it would have been easier if the Greek government had said, we find this very difficult but we will take it into a referendum and then wait the outcome but a lot earlier," he noted.

The president also said that the door for Greece's debt talks is "still open."

"The process has not ended... we will continue to work with Greece," he added. Endit