IIF denies haircut talks were “wrecked”

IIF Charles Dallara appeared very deeply annoyed with the scenarios following his departure from Athens.
“Much ado about nothing” say many IIF people, who seem flabbergasted by how his departure was presented by certain Greek media, which apparently are recycling an unreal situation: the notion that the talks were suddenly interrupted and the deal sank.

Some of them, who happen to be close to the IIF boss, say they have been inundated with phone calls from reporters anxious to know the sequence of events. His associates strongly believe the "root of evil” happens to be in the Greek capital, underlining at the same time that this outpouring of journalistic gossip is completely untrue and stating that local reporters should retract the wrong information.

“The talks are still going on but both Dallara and Lemiere had to attend meetings away from Athens; thus, they departed for Paris”, IIF sources say. Moreover, they did stress that Dallara’s Paris meetings have nothing to do with the PSI.

The IIF head’s colleagues remain in Athens so as to work closely with the Greek government and discuss multiple aspects of the PSI programme.

Ahead of the Eurogroup on Monday, what Dallara is aiming at is to see progress being achieved.

Specialists say that the Greek thriller might even last till the coming weekend, leaving both the IIF and Greece on tenterhooks.