Riga--European ministers heaped pressure on Greece Friday to speed up negotiations to unblock critically needed bailout funds and avert a dangerous default, showing frustration after months of bogged down talks.
The eurozone's 19 finance ministers ended a meeting in Riga without a breakthrough to unlock 7.2 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in bailout cash, with the threat of a messy exit by Greece from the euro still hanging in the balance.
"It was a very critical discussion," said Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem after the talks ended, with eurozone ministers angry at the lack of progress as a hefty payment of 200 million euros to the IMF stands due on May 1.
"There remain big, big problems to be solved for Greece," he said.
Athens is fast running out of money to pay its creditors and carry out everyday government duties, raising the risk of a default as a long series of huge loan repayments to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank approach.
On Friday, Greece's parliament adopted a controversial decree ordering all public institutions to hand over their cash reserves to the central bank to help Athens pay civil servants' wages and service its debt.
But increasingly irate eurozone ministers have refused to release any cash without a comprehensive list of reforms that the hard-left Syriza government has so far refused to accept.
Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said the talks in Riga were heated but pointed the finger to mixed messages from his European partners, all while adding that a deal was within reach.
"The cost of not finding an agreement would be enormous," Varoufakis said.
Emphasising the dangerous line Athens is walking, ECB chief Mario Draghi, also at the talks, again evoked the possibility of pulling back emergency financing to Greece's crippled banks, a lifeline to the Greek economy.
AFP
