Eurozone finance ministers have not yet seen the new proposals by the Greek government, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said this afternoon.
Professor Scicluna is attending an urgent meeting of Eurozone finance ministers that will be followed by an emergency EU summit later on this evening. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will take part in the summit. The meeting of EU heads of state comes after Sunday’s referendum, in which Greeks overwhelmingly voted against accepting the latest draft bailout deal in a referendum. EU leaders have pressed the Greek government to come up with concrete proposals but PM Alexis Tsipras is expected to ask for a 30% haircut of the Greek debt, which stands at almost €300 billion.
Speaking to journalists as he entered the European Council building, Prof. Scicluna said: “We have to listen. We have to see the Greek government’s interpretation of the referendum result. The proposals have not yet arrived and we are looking at several different scenarios.”
Asked what he thought about the ‘haircut’ Greece is expected to request, the Maltese Finance Minister said he had not yet seen any proposals by the Greeks but the Eurozone finance ministers would be open to any proposal and take it from there. “What we should be doing now is that, rather than using the proposals for a Grexit as a chip to play with, I think we should study them deeply and prepare for a well-managed Grexit, just in case we reach that point. On the other hand the Greeks should implement their proposals because they need to do this irrespective of the negotiations.”