Interesting. Because the news below directly contradicts much of the positive reporting I had read earlier this morning- About a possible deal and rising stockmarketsMarket Watch
Greece sent a new proposal for budget cuts and policy overhauls as part of a request for a new bailout, but it falls short of the demands of the country’s creditors, European officials said Wednesday.
In the new letter sent to the country’s lenders late Tuesday night, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proposes changes on several key parts of measures at the center of a five-month standoff between the two sides over funding Greece desperately needs.
Those include a later start of pension overhauls and exceptions on sales-taxes for certain Greek islands, measures that lenders already rejected when talks broke down last week.“If Friday’s proposals (from creditors) are the baseline, these measures would significantly increase (the) fiscal gap,” said one official. “And lots of clarifications would be needed on other aspects,” the official added.
A second official said that the proposals from Tsipras are a weakening of the measures that have been discussed and would not be well received by the three institutions that oversee eurozone bailouts — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A third official echoed that assessment.A senior Greek government official said that the Greek government was not planning to send additional proposals with more concessions on Wednesday.
New Greek proposals fall short: EU
"If Friday's proposals (from creditors) are the baseline, these measures would significantly increase (the) fiscal gap," said one official. "And lots of clarifications would be needed on other aspects," the official added. A second official said that the proposals from Mr Tsipras are a weakening of the measures that have been discussed and would not be well received by the three institutions that oversee eurozone bailouts -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A third official echoed that assessment.A senior Greek government official said that the Greek government was not planning to send additional proposals with more concessions on Wednesday.The letter is the latest in a flurry of drama over the bailout. In the last week, Greece has called a referendum on demands made by creditors and closed its banks to stop a flow of money out of the country. On Tuesday, it became the first developed country to default on the IMF, as the rescue program that has sustained it for five years expired Germany, which has maintained a hard line, views the latest offer as insufficient to resume bailout talks, according to people familiar with the thinking in Berlin. This week's turmoil has changed the circumstances too much, and bailout talks can no longer simply be resumed, they say"