(Bloomberg) -- Greek aid talks in Brussels ended abruptly Monday as an official from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government said the euro area’s proposal to extend existing bailout commitments was “absurd” and “unacceptable.”
The Greek official, who insisted on not being further identified, issued an e-mailed statement as euro-area finance ministers met and reviewed a draft text that said Greece would observe its existing bailout conditions. Negotiations lurched on briefly, before finance ministers called it a night.
“Time is really running out for Greece,” Maltese Finance Minister Edward Scicluna told reporters after the talks broke up. “That’s the main factor against it.”
Officials are trying to agree on a program of financial support to keep Greece afloat beyond the end of the month when its existing program expires. Without a deal, Greece could run out of money by the end of March, forcing Tsipras to consider leaving the euro or abandoning his promises to the electorate.
The meeting of euro-area finance ministers was tense from the outset after weekend talks in Brussels failed to establish common ground. The 19-nation shared euro fell 0.6 percent to $1.1323 at 6:33 p.m. London time after the talks broke up, having climbed as much as 0.3 percent earlier on Monday.
The Greeks said euro-area officials focused on the old aid memorandum “are wasting their time.” The statement continued: “With these facts, there can be no agreement today” and said the previous deal was “taken off the table” at meetings in Brussels last week.
‘Absurd’ Insistence
“The insistence of some circles that the new government enforce the memorandum is absurd and unacceptable,” the statement said.
Finance ministers from Germany to France nonetheless said that an extension of the existing program was the only short-term option for Greece.
A draft statement for the euro-area finance ministers, dated Monday, said they would “make the best use of the existing built-in flexibility in the current program.”
Part of the text was struck out with a hand-written line. It said: “The Greek authorities have indicated that they intend to successfully conclude the program, taking into account the new government’s plans.”
“An extension is the right solution,” said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin on his way into today’s meetings. “The time hasn’t come to discuss a new program.”
Greece has so far been promised 240 billion-euro ($274 billion) under two bailouts. Any deal might have set the stage for a follow-on aid program or credit line that would maintain oversight by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the Greeks haven’t shown enough willingness to soften their demands. As ministers from France to Austria ruled out a new program, Schaeuble told reporters that Greece’s time is running out.
“It’s not my job to think about options right now, but about the fact that the program will expire in February and that the program terms have to be met,” Schaeuble said. “As long as the Greek government doesn’t even want a program, one doesn’t have to think about options.”
