Tsipras blames creditors for stalled talks

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras i has said it is entirely creditors’ fault that his debt-ridden country is entering another crucial week with no deal on releasing bailout money.

In an op-ed published on Le Monde's website on Sunday (31 May), Tsipras said the lack of agreement was not " down to the supposed intransigent, uncompromising and incomprehensible Greek stance".

"It is due to the insistence of certain institutional actors on submitting absurd proposals and displaying a total indifference to the recent democratic choice of the Greek people."

His tough stance comes as Greece is meant to be making a payment of €300m to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday (5 June).

For Tsipras, Greece is the victim of "a conflict between two diametrically opposing strategies concerning the future of European unification".

While "the first strategy aims to deepen European unification in the context of equality and solidarity between its people and citizens", he explained, the other one seeks "the split and the division of the Eurozone, and consequently of the EU".

Tsipras warned that "Europe is at a crossroads" but said his government could not do more to reach a deal.

"Following the serious concessions made by the Greek government, the decision is now […] in the hands of Europe’s leaders," he wrote.

A few hours after his op-ed was published, Tsipras held a teleconference with Germany's Angela Merkel i and France's Francois Hollande i.

This was the three leaders' second call in three days, in a sign that any deal now depends on agreement at the highest political level.

Greek and German officials just said the talks "went well" and were "constructive" - the same language as after previous talks.

According to unconfirmed reports, the three leaders could meet in Berlin this Monday.

Merkel, Holland and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker i will anyway be in the German capital for a planned meeting with business leaders. They could be joined by Tsipras for mini-meeting on Greece.

Pension and labour market reforms remain the sticking points in the negotiations

In his article, Tsipras argues that the Greek pension system has been weakened by "the extreme austerity programme that has been implemented in Greece since 2010". He writes that demands on labour would "flagrantly violate European labour legislation".

Juncker, for his part, warned that a Greek Eurozone exit would "establish the idea that the euro is not irreversible" and harm Europe's investment prospects.

"I do not share this idea that we would have less worries and constraints if Greece abandoned the Euro," he said in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Juncker also said he "could not imagine" that EU continues to help Greece without the IMF.

"Without the IMF it will not work," he said, a few days after IMF chief Christine Lagarde hinted that her institution may not participate in a future plan to fund Greece.

Greece is due to repay €300 million to the IMF on Friday.

Friday’s IMF repayment deadline for Greece has been the focus of EU leaders’ effort to avoid a Greek default.

Greek Economy minister George Stathakis on Sunday said his country would meet its commitment.

“The country has been servicing its loans through internal resources for the past year. It will do the same this time, ” he told Greece's Real News newspaper before the weekend.

But doubts remain about Greece's finances and the country's ability to pay pensions and salaries as well as the further €900 million due to the IMF later in June.

"Greece has not been paying its bills for weeks," EU commissioner Günther Oettinger told Die Welt on Monday.

Oettinger added that Greece could decide to repay the IMF in one installment at the end of the month and have more time to reach a deal to unblock the last €7.2 billion from the bailout programme.

"It's up to the Greek government to decide whether to propose to bundle its IMF payments in June and win some days' time", he said