- Ewald Nowotny, President of the National Bank of Austria
The most recent round of Greek debt negotiations has broken up in Brussels, just 45 minutes after the meeting started. These talks were one of the last attempts of debt-burdened Greece and its creditors to reach any agreement in order to unlock as much as 7.2 billion euros in financial aid. Following the short meeting, the European Commission said that there was progress made; however, it was not enough to narrow a significant gap between the institutions and Greece over the conditions to receive the last payment from the second bailout programme. The bailout prepared for the Greeks in 2012 by the IMF, ECB and the European Commission expires in two weeks on June 30. The next deadline for signing any deal is now June 18, when finance ministers of the Euro zone meet in Luxembourg for the Eurogroup summit.
In the meantime, the President of the German central bank warned of negative economic impact from high debt levels and tax burden, when speaking on Monday in Frankfurt. Jens Weidmann, the head of the Bundesbank, said that factors dragging growth cannot be tackled solely by the monetary policy tools. He said that a return to sustainable growth should be ensured by the long-term currency stability. Bundesbank president has also expressed concern over the situation with Greece, stressing that the risk of no solution is increasing every day, unless it is eventually found.
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