First Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece

By Nikos Chrysoloras, Eleni Chrepa & Rebecca Christie

Greece remained far apart from its international creditors on a deal to unlock needed bailout aid, with the two sides unable to even agree on the amount of progress made thus far.

Minister of the Interior Nikos Voutsis told Mega channel on Sunday morning that the IMF will not be paid on the 5th of June. Mr. Voutsis underlined that the target is a deal by the end of June and added that “we will not accept the blackmail that wishes for liquidity with a memorandum or bankruptcy”.

Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis on Monday pointed to the “five keys” in negotiations with institutional creditors, speaking amid an increasingly dire situation in Greek state finances and renewed recession.

– Debt: Restructuring, not a “haircut”, but what he called a “smart swap and exchange”

– Paying the bonds held by the ECB via the ESM, with the latter paid off in the future

 Part II of an analysis of the German chancellor?s relationship with Athens looks at how the decision for a massive restructuring was reached

By Yannis Palaiologos

US President Barack Obama called on Greece to carry out reforms in order to secure further bailout from its international creditors.

Obama urged Greece to initiate reforms, collect taxes, reduce bureaucracy and introduce more flexible labour practices, daily Kathimerini reports.

Government sources responded to a Financial Times report on Monday titled "Greece prepares for debt default if talks with creditors fail." Sources stated "we will let them down once again" adding that Greece is not preparing for default.

Greece made its 448-mln-euro loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday. Bloomberg and the Athens Macedonian News Agency quoted Finance Ministry sources that stated that the tranche was paid on time.

The money paid back is part of a bailout installment from 2010.

Greece has agreed to repay its debt to the International Monetary Fund by April 9, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said after a meeting with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.

There was speculation ahead of the visit that Athens might fail to meet the 460-million-euro ($501-million) IMF installment if forced to choose between the IMF and paying government workers.    

The SYRIZA-led government is expected to submit a proposal for a parliamentary committee to examine the handling of the Greek debt crisis by previous administrations.

By Lefteris Papadimas & Caroline Copley

Greece's biggest creditor Germany said on Monday that the euro zone would give Athens no further financial aid until it has a more detailed list of reforms and some are enacted into law, adding to scepticism over plans presented last week.