– ‘Open to proposals’ –
The Frankfurt-based ECB’s governing council earlier Sunday held a crisis telephone conference and pledged to maintain emergency liquidity assistance – keeping open its life support for Greek banks and, by extension, the Greek state.
But it pledged no extra cash for banks.
The move further raised the stakes in Greece’s festering debt crisis after five months of tough bailout talks culminated on Friday night with Tsipras’s shock call for a referendum on creditors’ latest cash-for-reforms offer.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said there was still time for a compromise, urging creditors to show some “goodwill” and come up with an improved proposal ahead of the plebiscite.
“We remain open to new proposals by the (creditor) institutions,” he told the German daily Bild.
The weekend’s rapid-fire events in the Greek saga set off a flurry of diplomatic activity for Monday.
In a tweet, an EU spokesman said European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker would hold a press conference to discuss the latest developments on Greece.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called an emergency meeting with the heads of parliamentary groups and party leaders, while French President Francois Hollande will chair crisis talks with key ministers in Paris.
