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Greece debt crisis: 'No new plan' as eurozone leaders meet

July 7, 2015 6:12 pm

The eurozone says Greece has submitted no new proposals to secure a deal with creditors ahead of a key meeting of the group’s leaders which is now under way.

It had urged Greece to submit fresh plans after its people rejected a draft bailout in a referendum.

Greece said it had proposed a few changes and that it wanted a deal based on “the mandate of the referendum”.

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The lack of a new plan angered some eurozone members, with Germany saying there was “still no basis” for talks.

Greece debt crisis: Latest updates

The Greek side gave a presentation on Tuesday at a eurozone finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels, which preceded the leaders’ summit. However, there was no new written plan.

The Greek government said: “Today’s Eurogroup was not supposed to take decisions but rather prepare for the summit.”

It said proposals it had made last week were still on the table with a “few changes” and they would be discussed later on Tuesday and on Wednesday.

Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Greece would be sending a new letter requesting support from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), a pot of money set up in 2012 to fund eurozone members in financial difficulties.

He said the Eurogroup would discuss this on Wednesday but that creditors would have to look at Greece’s finances and debt sustainability to see “if we can formally start the negotiations”.

All 19 eurozone members would have to agree to an ESM loan. As a vote would also have to be passed in the German parliament, Greece would need an emergency bridging loan in the coming days to tide it over.

New Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos insisted there had been “progress” in the talks.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande separately before the leaders’ summit.