Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras defied what he called an attempt to “humiliate” his government on Tuesday, saying that an insistence by international lenders on further cuts was politically motivated.
He said he wanted a deal that would put an end to talk of Greece leaving the eurozone but said his government had been elected to end austerity, restating the position he has maintained since talks with lenders broke down on Sunday.
“The mandate we have got from the Greek people is to end austerity policy,” he told lawmakers in his leftist Syriza party.
“In order to achieve that, we have to seek a deal which will spread the burden evenly and which will not hurt wage earners and pensioners.”
Tsipras’ comments appeared to deepen the deadlock between Athens and its creditors, amid growing signs that Greece could be heading for a default that would push it towards exiting the eurozone.
He said the European Central Bank was insisting on financial “strangulation” for Greece and blamed the ECB and European Union for resisting offering debt relief.
Meanwhile, Greek stocks fell for a third day on Tuesday on concern time is running out. The country needs to seal an accord or get an extension before the euro areas bailout expires on June 30, or risk missing payments on its debt of about 313 billion ($354 billion) euros.
“The overwhelming sense of Greece’s creditors is that the government does not fully understand the institutional constraints it faces, the level of reform detail necessary for a deal and that is massively underestimating the risk and impact of capital controls,” Eurasia Group analysts Mujtaba Rahman and Federico Santi wrote in a note on Tuesday. Even if a Euro summit is called, it may prove too late.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told Bild that any new proposals would need to be thrashed out at a lower level before they could be presented to the finance ministers set to meet June 18 in Luxembourg. A Greek government official, who asked not to be named in line with policy, said the government hasn’t submitted a new plan.
“Europe needs a strong and comprehensive agreement, and we need this very soon,” European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told lawmakers at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday. “While all actors will now need to go the extra mile, the ball lies squarely in the camp of the Greek government to take the necessary steps”.