Eurozone finance ministers will miss a self-imposed deadline to strike a deal with the International Monetary Fund for Greece to be granted €7 billion debt relief. As such, the agenda for the February 20 meeting, which is to enable Greece’s third bailout due in July, will be moved to March.
According to an official from the European Union, the meeting on Monday will be short and that the Greece financial review has to wait until next month. Bloomberg reported that despite this, European creditors continue to work intensively to reach an agreement with the IMF.
While February 20 was not a strict deadline, Business Insider reported that Eurozone countries are racing against the upcoming Dutch and French national elections. Diplomats fear that Greece’s financial crisis will become highly politicized if not managed ahead of the election.
European creditors are trying to close the second review of Greece’s third bailout. This is to provide Greece the funds it needs to meet the €7 billion bond repayments due in July. Some diplomats, however, fear that rising national sentiment in Europe during the election could hamper the debt relief measure.
At the same time, the European countries currently do not have a common ground on giving Greece a fresh bailout loan. While the IMF wants governments to sign off on debt relief and to halt additional austerity measures for Greece, other European governments disagree.
According to Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schauble, writing off Greek’s debt would violate the terms of the Lisbon Treaty. Moreover, this sentiment is echoed by most countries, thus, the support for Greece is unpopular among voters and taxpayers.
Meanwhile, the Greek government is looking to its creditors, to the IMF and to the EU for fresh help on its public debt. Despite official relief, however, IMF said that the country’s public debt remain highly unsustainable and bound to become explosive.
