ATHENS -- Greek government officials have turned down "ultimatums" to close a deal with international creditors to resolve the five-year Greek debt crisis, despite the looming June 5 deadline for the repayment of the next loan installment to the International Monetary Fund.
A meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Berlin Monday night ended with a call to intensify efforts to reach an agreement.
Unconfirmed reports said a draft document containing a final take-it or leave-it deal proposal for Athens, which covers fiscal adjustment measures and reforms in exchange for further vital cash to avert a looming default and "Grexit," or Greek exit from the eurozone, was discussed during the Berlin talks.
Time is running out and Greece's state coffers have run out of cash after four months of negotiations between the two sides.
Athens must repay about 300 million euros (331 million U.S. dollars) to the IMF this Friday and a total of 1.5 billion euros (1.65 billion U.S. dollars) by July.
Greek officials have repeatedly said that without international funding, it will not be feasible.
Greek government sources said Monday that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has not been in contact with foreign officials yet and Athens has not received a draft proposal.
Greek Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragassakis however warned that the Leftist government will not accept "any ultimatums" from lenders.
Addressing a meeting of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left in Athens Tuesday Dragassakis stressed that Greece would not "submit to blackmails," and that Greek economy and society "cannot tolerate anymore austerity" and outlined again what the government considers a fair and viable compromise deal.
The agreement with lenders, Dragassakis said, should include low primary budget surpluses for 2015 and 2016, policies to support the hardest hit by the crisis, and a clear road map to ensure the sustainability of the Greek debt load.
The Greek official said Athens seeks "a debt restructuring solution which will not put any more burden on European taxpayers" and a long-term growth plan.
"We are assuming the risk of our efforts. We will not become a mutant Left," Dragassakis said, amid mounting warnings by MPs of the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA party that they will not ratify a deal which will be incompatible with the party's pre-election anti-austerity program.
"In case of an ultimatum with policies which are not within the framework of the popular mandate, apparently we cannot accept it," SYRIZA parliamentary spokesman Nikos Filis told Greek media Tuesday.
"There is no room for more compromises from our side. We expect the other side to also assume its responsibilities," Labor Minister Panos Skourletis told local media.
Both officials stressed that if the final deal proposal was not a "decent compromise" and even a small group of about a dozen SYRIZA MPs (out of a total of 149 SYRIZA deputies in the 300-member parliament) voted against it, the government would have to call snap general elections.
