Tsipras says Greece is preparing detailed plan

BRUSSELS With their country struggling to stave off financial collapse, Greek officials restarted talks with skeptical creditors on a new rescue deal, but showed up Tuesday without the concrete proposals their European counterparts had demanded.

“Every government has to deal with their own taxpayers and I would expect that their prime minister, knowing how important that this is in such a short time, will bring credible and economically sensible propositions to the table”, he said. If that happens then a Greek exit from the Eurozone – a Grexit – looks hugely likely.

With Greek banks down to their last few days of cash and the European Central Bank tightening the noose on their funding, Tsipras tried to convince the euro zone’s other 18 leaders to authorise a new loan swiftly.

On Wednesday the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras officially made the request for a three-year bailout from the European Stability Mechanism, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“I hope things work out”, he said. We have basically lost five months.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that if Greece is to remain part of the eurozone, it needs to enact reforms that will spur economic growth and pay off its debt.

Prior to Tsipras’ address, EU Council President Donald Tusk told the European Parliament that “everyone would lose” if the worst case scenario occurred, referencing the possibility of Greece’s exit from the eurozone.

Greek officials had been scheduled to present the country’s alternative plan for paying down its massive debt.

Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said Wednesday that “this application must be comprehensive”.

Olivier Blanchard, director of research at the worldwide Monetary Fund, says Greece’s troubles pose little threat to the broader global economy. So far, Greece has only produced an outline of the measures. It’s also downright unsafe for the European project’s future integrity. “We need to discuss the whole consequences for the European Union”.

“Up until now there are no specific proposals from Greece“, he said.

The head of France’s central bank said he feared the “collapse” of the Greek economy and “chaos” if Greece does not strike a deal by Sunday.

“We are in a completely situation now when compared to just this past June”. In a defiant speech, he said that his government was determined to reach a “viable agreement” with the country’s creditors.

European Union Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici was among those who said he was hopeful that a new Greek bailout deal is possible. “Next Sunday the final meeting will take place on Greece…” “I don’t see how you’re going to get any sustainable move higher because there’s no good news out there”. “Let us prove him wrong”.

“Our inability to find an agreement may lead to the bankruptcy of Greece and the insolvency of its banking system”, Mr Tusk said.

In a tweet, he added that if a deal can’t be brokered this week, “Everyone will lose”.

But after the US market close, European leaders were less upbeat.

The French leader spoke to reporters late on Tuesday after an inconclusive summit meeting of eurozone nations. The experiment, he said had clearly failed. The Stoxx 50 index closed up 1 per cent.

Tsipras arrived in Brussels buoyed by a triumph in a referendum Sunday in which a strong majority of Greeks backed his call to reject the belt-tightening reforms that creditors had last proposed.

He stressed that his country was “committed to a comprehensive set of reforms and measures”, specifically on the hot-button issues of pensions and taxes – both of which the creditors have demanded changes to.