Greece keeps banks closed as deadline for latest rescue plan looms

Banks in Greece will stay closed for the rest of the week as the country makes a last-ditch attempt to head off a European crisis. The €60 daily limit on cash machine withdrawals will also remain in place until next Monday, state television reported. The restrictions on banks were extended after Greece offered to start reforming its pension and tax systems next week. Athens promised the economic reforms as it announced a new bid for funds from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the EU organisation that provides financial assistance for eurozone members.

We propose to immediately implement a set of measures as early as the beginning of next week including: tax reform related measures; pension related measures.

Letter to the ESM from Greece’s finance minister

The three-year loan would enable Greece to cover its debt obligations, the ministry said, preventing it from defaulting and ensuring it does not have to drop out of the euro. It came as EU President Donald Tusk warned that Athens has one last chance to obtain a rescue deal if it wants to remain in the single currency. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras accused creditors of transforming Greece into an “austerity laboratory” but has promised “new concrete proposals, credible reforms, for a fair and viable solution” by the end of today. The heads of all 28 EU member states will discuss any proposal at a “decisive” summit on Sunday.

I have the sense that the dialogue is established, or restored, and that there is a way out.

Pierre Moscovici, EU economics commissioner

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