Athens threatens not to pay the IMF – Le Figaro

VIDEO – Bluff? Never a minister Alexis Tsipras had also said bluntly: Greece will not reimburse foreign creditors in June

Athens.

In the showdown that pits the Greek radical left government of Alexis Tsipras to its international creditors for four months, never a Minister had expressed so clearly. Greece “will not pay the next tranche from the IMF 1.6 billion, between 5 and 19 June,” said Sunday on television Nikos Voutsis, the Minister of Interior. Unless by then, “a fair deal” is reached with the creditors. IMF, the ECB and the European Union

Should we take this minister seriously? “It is certain that by crying wolf, no longer believe in threats, but Nikos Voutsis is not any voice. He always sits to the left of Tsipras at the Council of Ministers, ie its importance, “says Andreas Drimiotis, political analyst. Indeed, the discrete interior minister is part of the bodyguards of Prime Minister. Grand statements stingy, it is considered one of the most pragmatic. It is undoubtedly one of the trusted men Alexis Tsipras consults and listens a lot, giving it extra weight.

For weeks, they say empty the coffers of the Greek State. On May 12, the Treasury had to dip into a special reserve account with the IMF to repay $ 750 million. This time, the experts agree, and the Minister reiterated the Voutsis Sunday, the last drawer bottoms are exhausted.

Time is running more than ever to unlock at least part of the wafer 7 2 billion euros under the aid plan in progress but suspended since the summer.

59% of Greeks, the government should not yield more in the

negotiations

To avoid the deadlock, Alexis Tsipras is ready for anything. He even telephoned Jack Lew, US Minister of Finance, requesting his intervention with the IMF. Reassured by his meeting with François Hollande and Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the EU summit held in Riga last Thursday, the Greek prime minister said he was confident in a solution by the end of the month. Negotiations between Athens and its creditors have indeed accelerated for ten days. According to several government sources, both parties would be agreed on several points, including the gradual increase in the minimum wage to 750 euros but creditors refuse, for the moment, back on layoffs in the civil service. Athens proposes to increase the VAT and introduce new taxes. 59% of Greeks, according to a survey by the institute Public Issue, the Government must not give more in the negotiations, now the ball is in the court of creditors.

An opinion joined much of Syriza, whose left wing becomes invincible for Alexis Tsipras. Thus, Kostas Lapadistas, one of the deputies of the Radical Left party, loudly claimed that “a country’s exit from the euro zone will be manageable because there is expertise in this area. What initially would decline by a refusal to pay creditors, the nationalization of banks, the end of the rigor and the return to a national currency ‘. This branch very left today represents a third of the party, “but she is very restless and may harm the government and the country’s future in the euro zone,” warns political analyst Andreas Drimiotis.

However, it is the moderate wing which seems to have won Sunday night. At the end of the central committee of Syriza, a motion calling for not paying the next deadline IMF if “tactical extortion” continued, has, indeed, was rejected by 95 votes to 75.