European Union President Donald Tusk told Greece’s Alexis Tsipras to stop maneuvering and decide whether to accept the conditions on financial aid as the International Monetary Fund’s negotiators left Brussels empty-handed.

The IMF said that its team flew out after failing to make progress on a debt deal that would help Greece avoid default and cement its position within the euro. Tusk accused Greece of playing games with its future and pressed Tsipras to make concessions to escape economic ruin.

“We need decisions, not negotiations now,” Tusk told reporters in Brussels on Thursday. “There is no more space for gambling, there is no more time for gambling. The day is coming I am afraid that someone says the game is over.”

Tusk abandoned his neutral position as a broker of EU compromises to signal Greece’s creditors are preparing to hand Tsipras an ultimatum. The creditors have grown exasperated with the Greek leader’s refusal to bow to their demands, risking a default and ultimately an exit from the currency bloc, with potential consequences beyond the country’s borders.

“The ball is very much in Greece’s court,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters at a media briefing in Washington. “There are major differences between us in most key areas. There has been no progress in narrowing these differences recently.”

David Fuller's view

Alexis Tsipras is relying on the obvious fact that the EU/ECB and IMF, which hold most of Greece’s debts, are desperate to keep this struggling state within the single currency.  He also knows that without fulfilling more of the unrealistic expectations which he encouraged to win the last Greek election, his political career will be mostly downhill, assuming that an agreement to stay within the EU is reached.  The inexperienced Tsipras is unlikely to have a clear plan for Greece in the unlikely event that EU negotiators lose patience and withdraw offers of support. 

However this saga plays out, it is unlikely to increase UK public support for remaining within the EU.  Here is today’s lead letter from The Telegraph:

SIR – In the coming months, I must decide whether I want to remain in the EU. Right now I am having severe difficulties in working out what the EU is actually for.

Clearly it is not for delivering economic excellence for the benefit of its peoples, as the EU was doing pretty badly when things were going fairly well, and since 2008 it has been a disaster area.

It is certainly not for helping poorer members gain or regain prosperity when things turn nasty, if its behaviour towards Greece is anything to go by.

It can’t be for the enhancement of our security in a dangerous world, because we already get that from Nato.

It is surely not for the delivery of superior governance or enhancing democracy since it operates in an alarmingly undemocratic manner in most respects.

As far as I can work out it is for one thing above all: closer integration between members to achieve some undefined, and quite possibly indefinable, end.

What is the point of that? Who benefits and how (apart from the rather well-paid and weakly taxed EU ruling class, that is)?

D John Akerman
Selsey, West Sussex