In World Economy News 09/06/2015
German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded urgent action from the Greek government to cement its position as a member of the single currency.
Merkel said that fellow Group of Seven leaders meeting in Schloss Elmau, southern Germany, shared her goal of keeping Greece in the currency bloc and also backed her insistence that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras must deliver an economic program that can satisfy the country’s creditors.
“There isn’t much time left, that’s the problem,” Merkel said at a press conference on Monday following the G-7 meeting. “Every day counts now.”
Greece and its creditors are wrangling over the measures required to unlock as much as 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) of aid from its bailout program and avert a chain reaction that could see the nation pushed out of the euro. A solution to the negotiations should be reached before June 14 but further high-level meetings will only happen if there is a chance of a deal, a French government official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
“A faster resolution is in Greece’s interest,” French President Francois Hollande told reporters after the meeting. “If we want to move forward, it would be necessary to have technical talks, in the hours and the days to come, so that the proposals that aren’t working for the Greeks are replaced by alternative proposals.”
Obama Concerns
With talks between the Greek government and creditors resuming in Brussels on Monday, the G-7 leaders are leaning on Tsipras to do a deal and avert the risk of wider economic reverberations. U.S. President Barack Obama put concerns over the deadlock onto the summit agenda while Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper emphasized the importance reaching a settlement.
“All of us who were at the table want Greece to stay in the euro area,” Merkel said after hosting the summit of G-7 leaders also attended by International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. “Let there be no doubt about what we always say — that making an effort of your own and receiving solidarity is the right combination and two sides of the same coin.”
