Eurozone finance chiefs are seeking
further signs from Greece that it is serious about delivering its
promises of reform in return for a debt rescue.
Several ministers
arrived for their crunch meeting in Brussels expressing scepticism that
Athens would implement the austerity measures it has proposed.
Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem spoke of a "major issue of trust".
But Greece's Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis told the BBC his government is "committed to moving forward".
Greek
MPs have voted in favour of the measures proposed by PM Alexis Tsipras -
despite the fact that many of the ideas had been rejected by the Greek
people in last Sunday's referendum. Follow the latest updates here
The
meeting between 18 eurozone ministers and Greek Finance Minister Euclid
Tsakalotos in Brussels began early afternoon on Saturday and has
continued into the evening.
One unnamed European official, quoted
by the Associated Press, said there was a general feeling in the room
that the Greek proposals are "too little, too late" and as such "more
specific and binding commitments" are needed from the government in
Athens. Analysis: Theo Leggett, BBC News
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper says it has seen a German position paper which sets out two possible options for Greece.
1.
It could transfer assets worth €50bn into a special fund, to be sold
off to pay creditors. 2. Take a a five year "time out" from euro
membership, in order to restructure its debts.
A note of caution.
Although this paper appears to come from within the finance ministry, it
does not necessarily reflect Germany's actual position in the talks.
Indeed, there are some indications that it doesn't.
Officials may
well have been exploring numerous different options. These could simply
have been leaked in order to put more pressure on Greece during the
negotiations.
It is hard to see the benefits of casting Greece
into a limbo where it would apparently be neither a full member of the
euro, nor committed to producing its own currency and rebuilding its
economy outside the single currency zone.
However there seems
little doubt that, even if this weekend's talks prove fruitful, future
negotiations between Greece and its creditors are likely to be fraught. Will a deal be reached? Why did Greece hold a referendum? Did Greeks really fail to pay 89.5% of taxes?
Media captionGiorgos
Stathakis told the BBC's Gavin Hewitt there would be a deal formed this
weekend and that the country would build trust "step by step"
Arriving
for the meeting, Mr Dijsselbloem admitted there were many concerns not
only about "the content of the proposals, but also on the even more
difficult issue of trust".
"How can we really expect this
government to implement what it's now promising. I think it's going to
be quite a difficult meeting," he said.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was blunt: "We will definitely not be able to rely on promises."
Mr
Schaeuble was at the centre of a report in a German newspaper that he
had drawn up plans for Greece to temporarily exit the eurozone if this
weekend's talks fail - something Athens says it is not aware of.
There
are also unconfirmed reports that Finland has refused to agree to the
new bailout proposals, although on its own it is unlikely to stop any
deal going ahead.
Media captionHow a family survives on withdrawing €60 a day
Greece's
economy minister appeared confident that a deal would be done "in the
next 24 hours", pointing out that Greece's creditors have said the
proposed package is a basis for further talks.
"The government is
committed, the parliament is committed to moving forward. Now we need to
build trust," Mr Stathakis told the BBC's chief correspondent Gavin
Hewitt.
If a deal is not agreed among the finance ministers, it
will be discussed again by Eurogroup leaders meeting in Brussels on
Sunday.
That meeting will be followed by a full meeting of EU
leaders who, observers say, will probably be discussing Greece's exit
from the euro if a deal has not been reached by then.
unifying VAT rates at standard 23%, including restaurants and catering
phasing out solidarity grant for pensioners by 2019
€300m ($332m; £216m) defence spending cuts by 2016
privatisation of ports and sell-off of remaining shares in telecoms giant OTE
scrapping 30% tax break for wealthiest islands.
Mr Tsipras has admitted that the package "entails many proposals
that are far from our pledges, from what we feel is right for the
recovery of the economy" and were only "marginally better" than
proposals put forward by the creditors last month.
Some members of
the prime minister's own Syriza party voted against the proposals
during the vote in parliament overnight, angry at his apparent U-turn on
austerity.
Greece in numbers
€320bn
Greece's debt mountain
€240bn
European bailout
177% country's debt-to-GDP ratio
25% fall in GDP since 2010
26% Greek unemployment rate
Reuters
But Greece's financial situation is dire.
Banks have been
closed for two weeks now and a €60 (£43; $66) daily limit on cash
machine withdrawals, imposed on 28 June, remains in force for Greek
citizens. Many people say they have only been able to withdraw €50, as
there are no smaller denomination notes.
Mr Stathakis said that if a deal is reached this weekend, Greece's banks will reopen "very soon - within the week".
The
capital controls, he said, "will take a few months to be totally
removed - it will be a quick process as long as the deal is there". At the scene: Jasmine Coleman, BBC News, Athens
Punters
are watching for their numbers on TV screens outside a betting cafe in
central Athens. Next to broadcasts of motorbike racing, lottery draws
and athletics, TV commentators give the latest on the debt crisis.
But
George Vassis, 45, is not betting on the politics. "Who knows what will
happen?" he asks. Like many here, he is weary after months of talks and
economic decline.
He runs a business information company and
wants an end to the current deadlock. "Something must be done. The
measures the government is offering are bad, but it's the only way to go
forward."
Mr Tsipras has faced backlash to his proposals, but for
George much of the damage has already been done. His company will have
to make redundancies either way - he is just waiting to find out how
many. Difficult times on Syriza's doorstep All Greek to you? Debt jargon explained How easy is it to swap currencies?
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