All eyes are once again trained squarely on Greece this morning after a letter surfaced which shows Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is prepared to concede to most of Brussel's demands in order to secure a deal for Greece which is laboring under capital controls and the threat of a banking collapse after becoming the first developed country to default to the IMF.
This morning, German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the German parliament. Here are the key talking points (via Bloomberg):
"The door for talks with Greece was always open and remain always open. We owe that to the people and we owe it to Europe.”
“There can be no negotiations for a new credit program before the referendum.”
"Greek people unquestionably confronting difficult days." Greece unilaterally ended debate on second credit program, failed to make IMF payment, Merkel says
"Greece has legitimate right to hold referendum, euro states have right to respond."
And some more of her speech highlights from MNI:
- GERMANY WON'T COMPROMISE AT ALL COSTS
- DON'T NEED TO FEAR EZ ECO CATASTROPHE FROM GREEK CRISIS
- MERKEL: EUROPE IS MUCH STRONGER THAN 5 YEARS AGO
- REFERENDUM IS LEGITIMATE RIGHT OF GREECE. GERMANY WILL AWAIT RESULTS OF REFERENDUM
- DOOR FOR TALK WITH GREECE OPEN
So is Germany bluffing the bluffer Tsipras, and effectively saying it won't negotiation with the current Greek government but would rather wait until its replacement is sworn in after the referendum?
opposition leader in Germany accusing creditors of hoping for Greek govt to fall on Sunday-hence no talks b4.He probably has a point!#Greece [6]
— Famke Krumbmüller (@FKrumbmuller) July 1, 2015 [7]
Of course, that assumes a Yes vote, which would be contrary to earlier reports that at least in early polling, the "No"s have it? Unless of course Germany does want a No vote, in which case all bets are off.
