GREECE GETS WAKE-UP CALL: COMING WEEK COULD SEAL ITS FATE

[WestVirginiaRebel]

AP:

BRUSSELS (AP) -- International creditors sent Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras home from a summit Thursday with a clear message: swiftly tone down your demands in the bailout talks over the next week or face financial ruin.

 

The International Monetary Fund took the toughest stance, saying it was bringing its negotiators back to Washington as there had been no sign of compromise.

 

"There has been no progress in narrowing these differences," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said Thursday. "There are major differences between us in most key areas."

 

The creditors - the IMF and Greece's fellow eurozone states - want the country to commit to new economic reforms before they pay out another 7.2 billion euros ($8.2 billion). Athens needs the money to repay debts worth 1.6 billion euros at the end of the month and later this summer.

 

European Union President Donald Tusk earlier warned "there is no more time for gambling" and that next week's meeting of the 19 eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg should be the make-or-break session in sealing Athens' fate.

________

 

Beware of Greeks bearing debts.