Threatened with an exit from the Euro and the sixth tranche

Concern exists in the government that European Finance Ministers will have a mandate from their governments to follow the “IMF line” in tomorrow’s Eurogroup, threatening to revoke the ratification of the sixth tranche achieved two weeks ago, if there is no clear political consensus on the new loan agreement and its accompanying documents.

According to reports, messages received by Athens indicate that the Europeans will ask the Greek representative for “political commitments” tomorrow, following the “Lagarde dogma”, which links the 8-billion release with the country’s political developments, while in a “Le Monde” interview she states that “there should be greater political clarity from Greece in order to ratify the sixth tranche”.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos expressed this concern yesterday in Parliament, describing the need to have strong representation in the Eurogroup to “unblock” the sixth tranche release, after the blockage created by the announcement of a referendum, which opened a “window” for the country’s exit from the euro.

Within this logic, government officials estimate that Merkel has been contacting Papandreou and Samaras, and Rehn’s statements, combined with media publications abroad, characterize Papandreou’s resignation as a given.