[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The European Union...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
's chairman joined growing international calls for Greece to be granted debt restructuring as part of any new loan deal if it delivers convincing reforms to avert imminent bankruptcy.
The call was an implicit challenge to Germany, Athens' biggest creditor, which has so far ruled out any write-offs as illegal and taken a restrictive view of reprofiling the debt to help Greece over a major repayment hump this year.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was finalizing a tough package of tax hikes and pension reforms to send to euro zone authorities by midnight in a race to secure agreement at the weekend on a third financial rescue for his country.
European Council President Donald Tusk, who is to chair a special euro group summit on Sunday that will decide Greece's fate, hoped the plans would be concrete and realistic.
"The realistic proposal from Greece will have to be matched by an equally realistic proposal on debt sustainability from the creditors. Only then will we have a win-win situation," he said. "Otherwise, we will continue the lethargic dance we have been dancing for the past five months."
Failure to reach a deal on Sunday, including releasing some money to enable Athens to cover debt service over the next few weeks could lead to a collapse of Greek banks next week, sending the economy into freefall and possibly catapulting the country out of the euro zone.
If there is no agreement, all 28 European Union leaders will discuss measures to limit the damage from a Greek collapse, including humanitarian aid, possible border controls and steps to mitigate the impact on neighbors, EU officials said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as
Mom...
said a classic "haircut" - a write-off of principal - was out of the question. She did not rule out other forms of debt relief such as extending loan maturities, lower interest rates or a longer moratorium on debt service payments.