Edward Scicluna

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1 July – Eurogroup Teleconference

Two letters were sent by the Greek Prime Minister Tsipras, one to the institutions and one to Jeroen Dijsselbloem. At the conference call, the two letters and the approaching referendum are being discussed. The institutions and Finance Ministers are declaring the end of negotiations and the end of talks regarding the third programme until after the referendum result is announced.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem Now, let’s see who is on the line. Ireland? Germany? (inaudible greetings) Jeroen Dijsselbloem (01:42): Colleagues, Jeroen here. Are we complete? Anyone still missing? Male: – Jeroen, we are missing Germany. We have sent a message. Jeroen Dijsselbloem: We’ll wait for a few seconds. We picked this time especially for Wolfgang. So…we ll […] Read more

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30 June – Eurogroup Teleconference

As Greece prepared to default to two of its creditors, the Eurogroup assesses the first of two expected letters from the Greek government, concerning amendments to the Insitutions' SLA proposal and the extension of the ESM programme.

Thomas Wieser (00:00): … [inaudible 00:00:00] on the political willingness to agree and to implement. Um, all of this, uh, was focused very largely, uh, around, uh, the question of a new ESM program, uh, which is being applied for. As you said, uh, there is also the issue, uh, of, uh, EFSF, uh, program […] Read more

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27 June – Eurogroup in Brussels

The idea that a government should consult its people on a problematic proposal put to it by the institutions met with incomprehension and was treated with a disdain that bordered on contempt.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem (00:00:01): … uh, among whom of course, uh, Yanis, prepare the meeting. Um, I think given the situation where we are in now, in our last meeting we had on the table a set of papers, a common position of the three institutions. After having put those on the table, they were last […] Read more

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Extra material

25 June – Letter of resignation never submitted

On the night of the 25th June, Varoufakis wrote this letter of resignation, anticipating that within hours PM Tsipras’ concessions, amounting to surrender, would lead to an agreement with the troika – an agreement that Varoufakis could not live with. However, on 25th June, the troika refused to acknowledge PM Tsipras’ white flag – forcing […] Read more

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25 June – Eurogroup in Brussels – Part 2

Jeroen Dijsselbloem returns from the break with a non-answer.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem (00:14): My colleagues, thanks for your, your patience. We are in a very difficult situation in which the stakes are high… risks are high for all of us, yet we have not come to agreement. The papers, presented by the institutions, are not proposals, so I cannot ask your, will, not ask you, […] Read more

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25 June – Eurogroup in Brussels – Part 1

Yanis Varoufakis exposes the institution’s ultimatum’s technical incompetence.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem: (00:00:02): As I said we have not uh, have, we don’t have uh, agreement from the Greek authorities on these papers. Jeroen Dijsselbloem: (00:00:09): As they will reflect on their opposition later on. I would first like to ask um, the three institutions, the Commission, the ECB and the IMF, to reflect on […] Read more

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24 June – Eurogroup in Brussels

Eurogroup Brussels meeting place. By JLogan - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7496144
German finance minister confesses to having appropriated part of the ECB profits from trading in Greek shares – profits that the Eurogroup had already agreed ought to be returned to Greece.

Speaker 1 (00:00:00): … conditions restoring [inaudible] to the Greek economy. Thank you. Jeroen Dijsselbloem (00:00:00): Christine Lagarde (00:00:00): Thank you very much, Jeroen. Um, I can very happily confirm what Pierre has just indicated, which is that on the review of the prior action list, the three institutions are exactly on the same page. […] Read more

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22 June – Eurogroup in Brussels

Wolfgang Schäuble threatens with capital controls.

Benoît Cœuré (00:00:15): Details that gathered and for framework [inaudible] and it is uh [inaudible] this time. Um we have some of the measures to be more friendly, and less geared towards, the [inaudible] resolution [inaudible]. Uh. There is also some uh, um lack of [inaudible] on the construction of reforms. The documents is very […] Read more

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Extra material

22 June – GREEK MoF last stance – minimising new loans

By 22nd June, Varoufakis was utterly at odds with PM Tsipras whose continual concessions to the troika meant acquiescence on most fronts, including crucially debt restructuring. In this document Varoufakis attempted to introduce moderate restructuring operations that, while insufficient, would have reduced some of the debt burden at no cost to the creditors. Read the […] Read more

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18 June – Eurogroup in Luxembourg

The European Commission, for the first time, presented to the Greek government (in a PowerPoint presentation that was never printed) its proposals for a new MoU based on the old one. Yanis Varoufakis decided to counter with an alternative reform and fiscal consolidation plan. Forbidden as he was from tabling it in printed form, he spoke to it.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem (00:00:04): [inaudible] any other contributions. [inaudible] on the issue raised, uh, on the, the effects of the… Could also come back to it on the next agenda item, when we specifically look at the low interest rate, uh, climate, uh, the issue of the effects on insurance companies. Maybe we’ll come back to […] Read more