17 Feb 2015
Don’t expect any Eurogroup-Greece compromise till the last minute – BBH
FXStreet (Barcelona) - With Eurogroup stern on wanting Greece to request an extension program, and Greece insisting against it, the BBH team views that a compromise might be reached only at the last minute.
Key Quotes
“While the risk of a Grexit would appear to have risen, the framing of the issue in terms of brinkmanship tactics is important. It means not to expect any compromise until the very last minute. It might not be able to be resolved on the finance minister level though there is likely to be another try.”
“An emergency head of state meeting may ultimately prove necessary though, of course, one is not planned.”
“That said, we remain wary of lines in the sand and fake deadlines. The current program runs until the end of the month.”
“Greece's need for funds increases in March, but it could survive for a short period of time without a new program in place.”
“Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup head, argued that yesterday was a deadline. It wasn't. Now he says Greece has until the end of this week.”
“This is the stalemate: The Eurogroup wants Greece to request an extension program to buy time to negotiate a new pact. Greece insists that it will not agree to an extension of the existing program that it campaigned against and won Syriza a popular mandate.”
Key Quotes
“While the risk of a Grexit would appear to have risen, the framing of the issue in terms of brinkmanship tactics is important. It means not to expect any compromise until the very last minute. It might not be able to be resolved on the finance minister level though there is likely to be another try.”
“An emergency head of state meeting may ultimately prove necessary though, of course, one is not planned.”
“That said, we remain wary of lines in the sand and fake deadlines. The current program runs until the end of the month.”
“Greece's need for funds increases in March, but it could survive for a short period of time without a new program in place.”
“Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup head, argued that yesterday was a deadline. It wasn't. Now he says Greece has until the end of this week.”
“This is the stalemate: The Eurogroup wants Greece to request an extension program to buy time to negotiate a new pact. Greece insists that it will not agree to an extension of the existing program that it campaigned against and won Syriza a popular mandate.”