The Greek crisis experiences yet another turn for the worse, as the country and its EU-IMP creditors failed to break the deadlock during emergency bailout talks on Thursday. The failure to reach an agreement has sent the crisis stretching into a critical weekend meeting in order to avoid a default by Athens.
Due to the convention's failure to reach an agreement, another important meeting will be held again on Saturday, just three days before the country risks losing a 1.5 billion euro ($1.7 billion) International Monetary Fund payment, according to Yahoo! News.
Failure to meet the deadline may trigger the country's departure from the single currency, and even the EU, reported the Business Standard.
Angela Merkel, one of Germany's hardline chancellors, described the atmosphere that pervaded that summit. "We have not made the necessary progress. In some areas one even gets the impression that we have moved backwards," she said.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, has briefed the leaders, emphasizing that the extension of the talks into the weekend may prove vital. "The institutions informed us that on a number of issues there is still a wide gap with the Greek authorities. In the meantime, the door is still open for the Greek authorities to accept the proposals tabled by the institutions," he said.
To-date, Greece needs creditors to unlock 7.2 billion euros in its bailout to pay the IMF at the end of the month. However the lenders have refused the request unless Athens agrees to new reforms, according to Yahoo! News.
Amidst the tense atmosphere, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras remains optimistic. "After the comprehensive Greek proposals, I'm confident we'll reach a compromise that will help the eurozone and Greece to overcome the crisis," he said.
