The financial situation in Athens remains in limbo. After another week of no progress between the Alexis Tsipras government and its creditors, the International Monetary Fund is showing signs of impatience and is threatening to pull out of any new bailout compromise.
Last week, Greece withdrew its SDR reserves in order to make a large payment to the Fund but this has done little to alleviate the situation and Tsipras doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to make the additional moves he promised his voters during his election campaign. In fact, at a meeting behind closed doors on Friday, Prime Minister Tsipras was back to his old mantra of repeating, “Greece won’t cross its red lines in negotiations with international creditors just because time is pressing to close a deal.”
Red Lines
At a conference in Athens on Friday, Tsipras said, “Those who think that our red lines will fade as time goes on would do well to forget it.” He added, “I want to assure the Greek people that there’s no way the government will back down on the issue of pension and wage cuts. A deal must be reached but it must be mutually beneficial.”
The next set of meetings of European Union is scheduled to take place in Riga, Latvia on May 21-22, when Tsipras could find himself with little options but to abide by any agreement put on the table by its international partners. If a deal isn’t reached by then, the game may indeed by over and Athens will find itself out of the Eurozone and on its own.