Greece under pressure over bailout
Greece is facing acute international pressure, notably from US president Barack Obama, to secure a deal with creditors amid fears of a Greek debt default and exit from the euro.
With Greece facing an end-of-month deadline to secure a deal, Mr Obama and German chancellor Angela Merkel led calls for a swift resolution to Greece’s protracted bailout talks.
At the end of the G7 summit in Elmau, Germany, Mr Obama said there was a “sense of urgency” to resolve the situation.
He said: “What it’s going to require is Greece being serious about making some important reforms.”
The Greeks, Mr Obama added, will have to “make some tough political choices that will be good for the long term”.
The US president also stressed that the international community should “recognise the extraordinary challenges that Greeks face, and if both sides are showing sufficient flexibility, then I think we can get this problem resolved”.
Next episode, #Greece — Merkel and Tsipras to meet on Wednesday: http://t.co/LQ2P5wek0f pic.twitter.com/WxJcZjV9uR
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Mrs Merkel warned time is running out, and that while Greece’s euro partners want the country to remain in the eurozone, Athens has to play its part by implementing reforms.
She said: “There’s not a lot of time, that’s the problem, that’s why we have to work as intensively as possible.”
