The fact that the institutions continue to reject the "equivalent measures" proposed by the Greek government "never occurred before - neither in Ireland nor Portugal", wrote Mr Tsipras on Twitter, adding "This odd stance seems to indicate that either there is no interest in an agreement or that special interests are being backed." He complained in particular- according to Greek government sources - about the inflexible stance of the International Monetary Fund over the proposed debt freeze. The fact that no signing of the agreement is imminent was confirmed by President of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem: "We are not there yet. There is still a lot of work to do," he said. However, the negotiations between Greece and its international creditors have not broken down and the talks are continuing. A meeting between the heads of the EU institutions plus the IMF with Tsipras is still on the agenda. According to EU sources, the Heads of State and Government who will meet on Thursday at the European Council do not anticipate further negotiations. Indeed after the Eurosummit on Monday, the expectation is that a Eurogroup agreement will be reached on Wednesday evening. However, the seal on the agreement seems likely to need more time.
Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, reporting to the Senate noted that "the expiry date is the one at of the end of the month" and reiterated that "Greece needs to know that a large section within the European institutions will do anything to help it but the effort must be reciprocal". "We are making progress on Greece but there are still outstanding issues," said European Commission vice president for the euro, Valdis Dombrovskis, awaiting the start of the Eurogroup. "It's likely we're going to have a long night," he added. The former Finnish Prime Minister and current Finance Minister Alexander Stubb would be "very positively surprised if we get a deal tonight". (AGI)