Emergency Eurogroup, Eurozone Summit Monday

An emergency Eurogroup meeting will take place on Monday, at 12.30 (instead of 16:00 as originally planned), before a Eurozone Summit scheduled for this evening.

Following the outcome of the Eurogroup meeting on 18 June 2015, European Council President Donald Tusk has decided to convene a Euro Summit today in order to discuss the situation of Greece at the highest political level.

Tusk, in a statement said: “The purpose of the summit is to make sure that we all understand each other’s positions and the consequences of our decisions. We need to get rid of any illusions that there will be a magic solution at the leaders’ level. The summit will not be the final step. There will be no detailed technical negotiations. That remains the job of the finance ministers.”

In another statement on Friday, Tusk said: “The situation of Greece is getting critical. The current economic assistance programme to Greece runs out in 11 days. Four months of negotiations have not led to the necessary compromise. The Eurogroup meeting yesterday did not manage to break the deadlock. The game of chicken needs to end, and so does the blame game. Because this is not a game and there is no time for any games. It is reality with real possible consequences, first and foremost for the Greek people.

This is why I have decided to convene a Euro Summit on Greece on Monday evening. The purpose of the summit is to make sure that we all understand each other’s positions and the consequences of our decisions. We need to get rid of any illusions that there will be a magic solution at the leaders’ level. The summit will not be the final step. There will be no detailed technical negotiations. That remains the job of the finance ministers.

We are close to the point where the Greek government will have to choose between accepting what I believe is a good offer of continued support or to head towards default. At the end of the day, this is and can only be a Greek decision and a Greek responsibility. There is still time, but only a few days. Let us use them wisely.” [Source: European Commission]