No debt deal as Greeks reject 'absurd' offer

Greece has rejected an opening EU bailout offer as "absurd" and "unacceptable".
A meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels ended abruptly, ending hopes of agreeing a compromise today.
Greece's bailout expires on February 28 but a government source said that "there cannot be a deal today".


The source said that at this afternoon’s meeting Greek officials had been told to respect the existing conditions of the bailout.
"The insistence of certain people for the new Greek government to enforce the bailout is absurd and unacceptable," the source said.

Greece's new anti-austerity government wants to ditch part of the EU-IMF bailout and is asking for temporary funding until it can introduce a new four-year reform plan.
"Carrying out the bailout programme was off the table at the (leaders') summit. Those who bring this back are wasting their time," the Greek government source said.
Euro zone finance ministers are ready to hold further talks with Greece if and when it is willing to request an extension to its bailout package, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said after the meeting.

Leaving the Eurogroup talks, he stressed to reporters that it was now up to Greece to request an extension - something the new Greek government repeated that it was not prepared to do.
"We are ready to continue the talks so basically it's now up to the Greek authorities to decide whether they want to request an extension of the programme," he added.
The new government saw today's meeting as an attempt to force it to extend Greece's submission to a hated bailout deal and it simply could not accept it, the official said.
A eurozone official questioned that account, saying no such text was discussed as Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis faced a barrage of opposition from his 18 counterparts.
Earlier, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said it was up to the Greek finance minister to come forward with specific proposals on how to break the impasse over the country's future financing needs.
Last week, ministers failed to reach agreement with the new far-left Greek government on whether or not to extend the country's €240bn bailout at the end of this month.
"The ball is back in the Greek court to explain to the rest of us what it is exactly that they're looking for," Mr Noonan said. 

He said that Greece's insistence that there be no extension to its current €240 billion bailout had legal implications as well as implications for the funding of Greek banks.
Speaking on his way into the meeting, Mr Noonan said Ireland would accede to a request for an extension of the Greek bailout, something Athens has categorically ruled out.
Mr Noonan, who has a bad black eye after undergoing a procedure over the weekend, said he "wouldn't rule out" a scenario where an extension to the current bailout was agreed, with a new programme for Greece being negotiated "sometime at the beginning of the summer".
Greece has insisted that it wants to end the current bailout programme without an extension, even though that would leave the country short of funds as it faces into a series of large debt redemptions for the IMF and the ECB.

Instead Greece is demanding a bridge loan to tie the country over until the summer, at which point it would seek a replacement of its bailout.
Eurozone finance ministers want Greece to apply for an extension to its bailout before addressing the issue of a formal replacement.
Greece could be cut off from international financial support within two weeks.
That could trigger a run on its banks, and potentially push Greece out of the euro.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said before the talks began that Greece had lived beyond its means for a long time and there was no appetite in Europe for giving it any more money without guarantees it was getting its finances in order.
"What I have heard so far has not strengthened my optimism. It seems like we have no results so far," he said as he arrived for the Brussels talks. "I'm quite sceptical. The Greek government has not moved, apparently."
Mr Varoufakis spelled out in a combative New York Times article his country's refusal to be treated as a "debt colony" subjected to "the greatest austerity for the most depressed economy".
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Europe must respect political change in Athens and joined a chorus of ministers urging the Greeks to extend the current deal to allow time for talks on a longer-term solution.
Mr Varoufakis, who has ruled out requesting an extension, said in the article: "The lines that we have presented as red will not be crossed...
"Our government is not asking our partners for a way out of repaying our debts. We are asking for a few months of financial stability that will allow us to embark upon the task of reforms that the broad Greek population can own and support, so we can bring back growth and end our inability to pay our dues."
  http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0216/680490-eurozone-brussels/
16/2/15
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