THE HAGUE -- The chance is very small that the finance ministers of the euro zone countries reach a deal on Greece on Thursday, Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Wednesday during a debate in Dutch parliament.
"The aim is still to reach an agreement and to keep Greece in the euro zone," Dijsselbloem added. However, he emphasized that a possible agreement should be tested before the end of this month.
On June 30, the extension of Greece's second bailout expires. On the same day, Athens needs to repay some 1.5 billion euros (1.69 billion U.S. dollars) of loan installments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Without an agreement over a debt deal, Greece cannot cover its financial obligations, government and lenders acknowledge.
The Greek government is negotiating for months with the lenders(the euro zone, the European Central Bank and the IMF), but so far without results. Dijsselbloem called the negotiations between the Greek authorities and the lenders "pretty derailed." Statements by the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who called the terms of the lenders "absurd," were according to Dijsselbloem "inaccurate and unfair."
"We offered Tsipras to come up with alternatives, but so far they never came," Dijsselbloem said in the Dutch parliament. Since these Greek proposals have not arrived yet, it is unlikely that the euro zone finance ministers can take decisions on Thursday during their meeting in Luxemburg.
Also on Wednesday, Dijsselbloem proposed to delay the elections for head of the Eurogroup, which had been expected on Thursday, until July.
Dijsselbloem will see his two-and-a-half year term as Eurogroup President end in July. He aims for a second term, but has a strong rival in Spanish Finance Minister Luis De Guindos. Enditem
