Greek official pessimistic about Thursday’s Eurogroup meeting

A Greek government official has said he is pessimistic that an agreement paving the way for new loans for Athens will be reached at the meeting of eurozone finance ministers Thursday.

“We are very far from a solution at tomorrow’s Eurogroup meeting,” the official told the Athens-Macedonian news agency on condition of anonymity on Wednesday. 

“Unless German Finance Minister [Wolfgang Schaeuble] makes some positive gesture in the coming hours, or during the Eurogroup meeting, then [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel will have to deal with the hot potato,” the official said.

The official said that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had already informed European Council president Donald Tusk that if no solution is reached Thursday, he will submit a formal request for a Euro Summit of eurozone heads of state and government to discuss the issue.

In an op-ed published in Wednesday’s edition of the German newspaper Die Welt,  Tsipras said he was optimistic for a deal.

“We're looking ahead to the meeting of eurozone finance ministers full of hope and expectation because we've implemented our commitments and we'll continue to go down this route on the European path,” he wrote.

“We respect the rules of our joint European house and we expect the same of our lenders – namely to treat my country, Greece, with respect.”