The frustration in Europe was visible today as Greece arrived in Brussels ready to negotiate a new deal– but without a new deal. Heads of state, the media and those following the meetings were harsh on the Greek side for arriving empty handed, offering instead, a deal “tomorrow,” according to prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
Diplomatic niceties were abandoned as it emerged Greece’s new finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos had not come armed with detailed proposals.
“[With] the Greek government it is every time mañana,” said Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaitė, one of the Greek government’s most tough-talking critics. “It can always be mañana every day.”
Greek banks are almost out of cash and some Eurozone figures are already saying that Grexit is the only option for the debt-ridden country.
The head of Latvia’s central bank told domestic radio that the “brave” Greek nation had “voted itself out of the eurozone”
Malta’s prime minister Joseph Muscat also expressed his frustrations in a Tweet:
The absence of a concrete proposal by #Greece government doesn't help this evening's #Eurozone leaders' meeting -JM
— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) July 7, 2015
Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir said he was skeptical a deal could still be found.
“There were no new proposals at this point from the Greek minister,” Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said in a statement after a meeting of the continent’s finance ministers in Brussels.
“I’m very disappointed, quite simply very disappointed, because I had a strong impression that everybody really feels a sense of urgency except the Greek government,” said Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt. ”We have already had so many deadlines.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s message to the Greeks was blunt as he arrived at an emergency eurozone summit in Brussels: We can only help you if you want to be helped.
Rutte, a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told reporters Tuesday he was “extremely somber about this summit. I’m also somber about the question of whether Greece really wants to come up with proposals, with a solution.”