The Greek government is struggling to find cash to meet its obligations and may be forced to tap the cash reserves of state bodies and/or pension funds in order to meet its payments to the IMF and others. The ECB continues to reject requests from Greece to increase the amount of T-bills (short term government debt) which can be purchased by its banks, restricting a potential funding route.
Meanwhile, Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos said, “We’re negotiating a third bailout” for Greece, suggesting it could range from €30bn to €50bn. “For Greece, there’s no alternative to European solidarity”, he added. Spanish Budget Minister Cristóbal Montoro appeared to support the comments, telling Antena 3 this morning, “No matter what it will be called, what is clear is that Greece will need money.”
A spokeswoman for Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said, “Eurozone finance ministers are not discussing a third bailout.” However, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis admitted, “Greece may need an additional arrangement after this programme expires.”
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has said he will present a list of six reform proposals at the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Monday, to discuss which ones can be implemented “immediately”. He added, “Leaving the Eurozone would be the worst thing that could happen to us.”
Separately, Spain and Portugal have registered a complaint with the European Commission after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused them of targeting his government for domestic political reasons. German Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jäger said of Tsipras’s comments, “By European standards, this was very unusual foul play…That is not acceptable. It is true that in the past few weeks, a lot of trust has been lost.”