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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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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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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

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11 May – Eurogroup in Brussels

Discussion over progress and agreeing on a communiqué.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem: Let me try to, I won’t do much to this statement. Let me try once. What if I were to say, we therefore welcome the intention of the Greek authorities to accelerate their work with the institutions. By putting that way you are saying that it is your intention to put in the extra effort… It does not sound as if someone is criticising you. You are saying that we shall do what it takes.

Yanis Varoufakis: You are tempting me to say that I would like the institutions to say they same thing. But I won’t say that, because I want to be helpful. We shall accept this even though we state for the record that there are two sides and thus both must accelerate their efforts and rate of concession.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem: I am sure everyone is ready to continues putting in the work…

Actual communiqué:
The Eurogroup today took stock of the state of play with the ongoing negotiations between the Greek authorities and the institutions. We welcomed the progress that has been achieved so far. We note that the re-organisation and streamlining of working procedures has made an acceleration possible and has contributed to a more substantial discussion. At the same time, we acknowledged that more time and effort are needed to bridge the gaps on the remaining open issues. We therefore welcome the intention of the Greek authorities to accelerate their work with the institutions, with a view to achieving a successful conclusion of the review in a timely fashion. The Eurogroup reiterated that its statement of 20 February remains the valid framework for the discussions. Once the institutions reach an agreement at staff level on the conclusion of the current review, the Eurogroup will decide on the possible disbursements of the funds outstanding under the current arrangement.

Speaker 1 (00:00): … closely and they’re supposed to conclude the package by June. On the statistics, let me draw your attention to the commitment to a man you know modified dependence of endemic statistics Institute as a start. A draft decision is now being discussed, involvement of experts from Eurostat. Uh, so there are […] Read more

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24 April – Eurogroup in Riga

In the 24th April Eurogroup, the European Commission process was overthrown and the hawks re-asserted themselves, demanding the troika’s return to Athens in order to end the ‘inefficiency’ of the Brussels Group. At the same time, a character assassination campaign kicked into gear against Varoufakis, claiming that during this Eurogroup the finance ministers had called him ‘irresponsible’ and accused him of being a ‘time-waster’, a ‘gambler’ and an ‘amateur’. Fake news...

Jeroen Dijsselbloem (00:01:54): Uh, Pierre, [inaudible], welcome. Thank you for joining us. Um, the next item on the agenda is the,uh, situation in Greece. Uh, as you all vividly remember on the 20th of February and on the 24th of February, we agreed on, um, the starting point of the process and how the process […] Read more