Associated Press
By Lorne Cook and Pan Pylas
Associated Press
BRUSSELS — Talks between Greece and its creditors in the 19-country eurozone broke down Thursday without agreement or even a plan of action on how to move forward on the country’s debts and bailout.
Following an emergency meeting of the eurogroup in Brussels, the two sides failed to even issue a statement, a sign that a compromise deal over Greece’s debts at next Monday’s follow-up meeting will be a struggle.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the eurogroup of finance ministers, said detailed proposals weren’t even discussed, adding that there wasn’t enough common ground to chart the road to the next meeting.
“It was my ambition to agree on the steps to take the next couple of days so we could spend them well and make more progress between now and Monday,” he said. “Unfortunately we’ve not been able to do that so we will continue our talks on Monday and move on from there.”
Europe has been embroiled in another Greek crisis following the election of the radical-left Syriza government last month. The new government was elected on a mandate to drastically reduce the burden of the country’s bailout and the associated budget austerity measures, which it blames in large part for the country’s economic woes. Despite a recent modest return to growth, the Greek economy is around 25 percent smaller than it was and poverty and unemployment rates have swelled.
Not deterred by the failure to agree to a new plan, Greece’s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, laid out the hope that progress could be made at Monday’s meeting.
“We had a very constructive and extensive discussion of all the facets of the Greek crisis and the way in which the eurogroup can facilitate the transition to a new phase in the history of the Greek social economy so we overcome the debt deflationary crisis, the humanitarian crisis and so on,” Varoufakis said.
