Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Stephen Pond

Greece might just pay off the €1.6 billion it owes this month

There has been “serious progress” in talks.

THERE HAS BEEN “serious progress” in talks over Greece’s debt crisis but much still needs to be achieved, the EU’s commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs said.

There is still “work to be done,” Pierre Moscovici told French radio after emergency negotiations in Berlin joined unexpectedly by the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

The late-night meeting in the German capital was also attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

The aim was to come up with “a final proposal” to present to Athens, according to German daily Die Welt.

But Merkel’s office said after the meeting only that the quintet agreed to work together “intensely” in the coming days and would stay in “close contact”.

“These discussions are starting to bear fruit,” said an optimistic Moscovici.

“There is a solid basis to progress but we’re not there yet” and “there are efforts to be made on both sides to get there,” he admitted.

He stressed that he “ardently wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone” but that “time was pressing.”

The country faces a key deadline on Friday when it is due to repay €300 million to the IMF. There are fears Greece does not have the necessary funds and will default, possibly setting off a chain of events that could end with a messy exit from the euro.

- © AFP, 2015

Read: Greece is going to miss a €1.6 billion loan repayment to the IMF

Read: ‘The Mediterranean will become Europe’s graveyard’

Author
View 36 comments
Close
36 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jamie Heffernan
    Favourite Jamie Heffernan
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:15 AM

    International Monetary Fund, fancy title for the world largest loan shark.

    131
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Drew
    Favourite Drew
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:45 PM

    And…? I don’t think they ever denied that or that it’s news to most people. In fact international lender of last resort is pretty much the primary function of the IMF.

    Did you think it was some kind of charity?

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Deco James Connolly
    Favourite Deco James Connolly
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:26 AM

    They have to pay money to get money ?
    They are caught between a rock and a hard place and ordinary Greeks are paying the price .

    108
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waddler Mooney
    Favourite Waddler Mooney
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:48 AM

    Greece like Ireland was led into the monetary trap of the Eurozone by their domestic capitalist class who benefit enormously from the currency union. But for the majority of European people, the Euro is a neoliberal straitjacket which renders their national democracies largely meaningless.

    77
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wayne O'Fathaigh
    Favourite Wayne O'Fathaigh
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:17 AM

    Copy paste waffle big words no meaning copy paste waffle repeat

    77
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute justanothertaxpayer
    Favourite justanothertaxpayer
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:45 AM

    they have free and fair elections in Greece don’t they? Let’s not pretend some minority hoisted the Euro on the people there.

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas Maher
    Favourite Thomas Maher
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 1:23 PM

    What’s happening is they’re borrowing money to repay the people they’re borrowing money from, once they’ve paid the people they’ve borrowed from with money they’ve borrowed from them they can then pay wages etc from what’s left over of the money they’ve borrowed.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waddler Mooney
    Favourite Waddler Mooney
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 1:51 PM

    Taxpayer,
    Did the Irish people who voted for Fianna Fail in a “free and fair” election in 2007 mandate the bailout of the bankrupt and delinquent banks in 2008 or was that decision and its consequences hoisted on them?

    Elections are a necessary component of democracy but do not constitute a functioning democracy in themselves.

    The Greek government serving the interests of domestic Greek capital conspired with international capital specifically Goldman Sachs to falsify the national accounts in order to meet the Euro entry requirements.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/global/14debt.html?pagewanted=all

    The interests of the minority capitalist class in Greece and across the EU are tied to the Euro, the interests of the majority of citizens are not.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Northern Craic
    Favourite Northern Craic
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:38 AM

    Can they please just default and get on with living, it’s the ECBs money anyway. They owe 250 billion euro, can hardly even make the interest payments and they are bargaining with Europe to get the rest of their bail out.

    Greece is never ever ever going to pay back 250 billion euros.

    104
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ross O'flaherty
    Favourite Ross O'flaherty
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:15 AM

    *Insert patjoe, diarmuid left wing loony comment here*

    83
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ivan Murphy
    Favourite Ivan Murphy
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:32 AM

    The boys can’t show up today, they are beside Edna, busy with fingers in ears singing, al, al, la, laaaa, la dinny, dinny, dinny.

    60
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute MK76
    Favourite MK76
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:23 AM

    Or have jobs to keep them from being idle.

    29
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pearse McMullen
    Favourite Pearse McMullen
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:40 AM

    Well that sort of rules you out of the job market so MK, going by your own judgement, doesn`t it?

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute MK76
    Favourite MK76
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:07 PM

    Ever hear of holidays Pearse? Kinda like the ones you get from school.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pearse McMullen
    Favourite Pearse McMullen
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:12 PM

    Could the same be said of the people that you are criticising above then MK?
    Your irony is delicious, LOL
    now “toddle off” with your packed lunch – you have Gym in the afternoon, then detention for being a goon again

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mick Jordan
    Favourite Mick Jordan
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:25 AM

    What was the war cry from SEREZA during the Greek elections? Wasn’t it “Can’t pay Won’t pay” and what do we see. They are doing everything they claimed they wouldn’t do.

    75
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute littleone
    Favourite littleone
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:42 AM

    So this article is about the IMF, Germany and France trying to work out something, of course the IMF wants syriza to pay . but Greece were not at the meeting. Its a proposal to put to Athens. Does not mean syriza and Greece agree.

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard
    Favourite Richard
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:46 AM

    Their election manifesto was effectively: “We won’t repay our creditors, but we will get more money from them to continue to fund the unsustainable levels of tax fraud and government expenditure to which we are accustomed.”

    Why anyone genuinely believed that would work is beyond me.

    70
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe
    Favourite Joe
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:53 AM

    Mick like all “good” looney leftist’s they’ve folded.

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ross O'flaherty
    Favourite Ross O'flaherty
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:55 AM

    We haven’t even dealt our hand yet. 2 aces will be in government :)

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute patjoejoe123
    Favourite patjoejoe123
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:32 AM

    loony left at its finest, don’t want to repay loans but with not a hint of irony want more loans. thats the lefty mindset folks, completely bonkers

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ivan Murphy
    Favourite Ivan Murphy
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:18 PM

    And the ‘Loony Extreme Right’ expect the average Greek to starve and bleed to pay back 250 billion euros. Face it guys, its not going to happen. The SYSTEM is broken. Let Greece default and get on with rebuilding.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute zebadie
    Favourite zebadie
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:16 PM

    Recently visited Athens. Nice city! I was surprised! But everywhere no one wanted to accept Credit Card. Always CASH. Who is paying the taxes needed to maintain the country’s debt?

    60
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ivan Murphy
    Favourite Ivan Murphy
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:24 PM

    I’ve moved to paying for everything in cash also, and I tell those that I’ve paid to pocket it.

    I’ve had enough of this crony ridden corrupt kip, where the super wealth get the ‘favorable’ deals off the back of the taxes I pay.

    F*** it and F*** them, why should we the people support this rotten crony system.

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute justanothertaxpayer
    Favourite justanothertaxpayer
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:48 PM

    it’s ok Ivan – the rest of us will make up the shortfall from your contribution because we support your conscientious objection to paying your taxes.

    55
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Drew
    Favourite Drew
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:49 PM

    Even if they are paying tax on it… They want cash as It’s going straight back out into international bank accounts, bonds or gold.

    Even the Greeks know a shit storm is coming and they don’t want their cash sitting or tied up in a Greek bank account to become drachma II subject to capital controls and eventually be devalued.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Matt Donovan
    Favourite Matt Donovan
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:47 AM

    If only their interest rate was 1.25%

    57
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute MK76
    Favourite MK76
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:27 AM

    Surely they didn’t just sell a lot whole bunch of BS to the electorate to get into power and then back track on most of it.

    I thought the Left were the sparkling bastion of new politics, who only promised what they could deliver.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute patjoejoe123
    Favourite patjoejoe123
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:30 AM

    they have broken every promise they made in just a few months, that must be some sort of record :D

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas Maher
    Favourite Thomas Maher
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 1:25 PM

    As opposed to the current government who’ve kept every promise they’ve made.. Wait…what??

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute patjoejoe123
    Favourite patjoejoe123
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:29 AM

    its comical watching the lefties destroy greece

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ivan Murphy
    Favourite Ivan Murphy
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 12:21 PM

    lol, what you people continuously FAIL to acknowledge is, that it was Greece’s previous government that destroyed the country.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joseph O'Regan
    Favourite Joseph O'Regan
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 6:31 PM

    Ivan it is simply far too complicated for the Blueshirt and Dobbie Gimps to understand this.Syriza are attempting to relieve the hardship being caused by the parasitical corrupt capitalist Bankers and Bondholders. They are doing a lot of work on the ground and are not ignoring their citizens welfare.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tap Solny
    Favourite Tap Solny
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 10:57 AM

    Can they not just chant ‘can’t pay will not pay’? People who lend money should not expect to be repaid.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute littleone
    Favourite littleone
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:18 AM

    See a lot can’t even read the article. This is not Greece or syriza. This is the IMF and France and Germany trying to work out a deal to present the Greece. Maybe you should all read the article again.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Dunne
    Favourite Paul Dunne
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2015, 11:45 AM

    full of wind and piss the new government

    19
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Next upNext up:
      News in 60 seconds