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2nd LD Writethru: Emergency Eurogroup meeting ends fruitless, Greek gov't insists it tabled proposals

Xinhua, July 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

An emergency Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on the Greek debt deal ended inconclusive on Tuesday afternoon, with lenders saying publicly that they expected to discuss Greece's proposals on Wednesday during a Eurogroup teleconference, but that this hadn't happened.

The finance ministers of euro zone countries didn't receive new proposals they had expected from Greece on Tuesday, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said after the crucial meeting.

"We welcome our new Greek colleague and listen to his assessment of situation after the 'no' vote in Greece," he said in a short statement, adding that there are no new proposals from new Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos.

"The Greek government will send a new request letter for ESM support, as soon as it comes in, I hopefully in tomorrow morning we will have another conference call in the Eurogroup to formally start the process of dealing with the request," Dijsselbloem said.

He noted that the group will ask the European Union institutions to look at the financial situation in Greece.

"And then the institutions will come back to us, and we will see whether we can formally start the negotiations," he said.

However, Greek government sources dismissed the criticism, insisting that Greece's new finance minister Tsakalotos had in fact presented proposals.

"Is the problem that we do not have proposals, or that they do not like our proposals? " the sources posited, according to the Greek national news agency AMNA.

The Greek side stressed that Greece's proposals had been rejected again.

The statements from both sides were made as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was holding a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Brussels ahead of the extraordinary euro zone summit which convenes later on Tuesday on the Greek issue.

According to government sources in Athens, the Greek side is requesting a two-year, 29-billion-euro-worth (32 billion U.S. dollars) bailout program through the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Meanwhile, several European partners prefer a bridge agreement for a few months first in exchange for the swift implementation of reforms by the Greek side as a test before a comprehensive deal is discussed.

Officials and analysts from both sides warn that the situation is perilous. Greek banks are closed and capital controls have been imposed in Greece since June 29, ATMs are expected to run out of cash this week, and without emergency assistance, Greece seems to be heading to default and possibly an exit from the euro zone.

Since July 1, Greece has been in arrears to the International Monetary Fund and needs to repay 3.5 billion euros in loan installments to the European Central Bank by July 20. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollars) Endit