Roundup: Emergency Eurogroup meeting ends fruitless, Greek gov't insists it tabled proposals

An emergency Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on the Greek debt deal ended inconclusive on Tuesday afternoon, with lenders saying publicly that their expectation for new Greek proposals fell, but Athens denied.

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.

Like other finance ministers who were expecting the latest Greek proposal, Dijsselbloem said that Greek proposals needed to be "credible" to seek a way out before the meeting.

But new Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos gave an oral presentation to the euro zone finance ministers, saying the new proposal would be presented Wednesday.

"We welcome our new Greek colleague and listen to his assessment of situation after the 'no' vote in Greece," Dijsselbloem said, hinting several days may needed to start renegotiation.

"The first step will be that the Greek government will send the Eurogroup a new request," he said, adding that a new request letter from Greece for ESM support hopefully would come on Wednesday morning.

He noted that the group will ask the European Union institutions to look at the financial situation in Greece and their finances and debt sustainability.

"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.

"Now is the time to get round the table again," Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said in a statement to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, referring to the Greek debt issue.

"In Europe, there are no simple answers," he said. "Europe is all about compromise, and this takes time."

But time is what Greece does not have. 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