The heads of the IMF and European Central Bank unexpectedly joined talks on Greece’s debt crisis Monday, June 1, as Greece battles with its creditors to unlock desperately-needed bailout funds, AFP reports.
Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and International Monetary Fund boss Christine Lagarde late on Monday night to discuss the Greek debt crisis.
However, hopes for a major breakthrough were dented when a German government spokesperson said the officials had only agreed there needed to be “intensive work” on Greece.
The meeting spawned from a separate planned meeting between Merkel and other EU leaders to discuss how to promote investment in Europe. But it was later discreetly joined by Draghi and Lagarde.
Greek officials have previously said that the creditors have taken different approaches to negotiations, and that this has hindered progress. They said the IMF needed to come more in line with the EC and ECB with regard to its demands on Greece’s reforms.
Meanwhile, an EC spokeswoman said yesterday that Greece’s creditors were “not in the business of setting deadlines”, which reduces the risk of Greece being offered another kind of ultimatum.
