EU warns Greece time nearly up to reach deal

The EU’s exasperation with Greece burst into the open, yesterday, when its chief executive rebuked leftist prime minister Alexis Tsipras and warned that time was running out to conclude a debt deal to avert a damaging Greek default.

In unusually sharp terms, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker accused Tsipras of distorting proposals by international creditors for a cash-for-reform agreement and of dragging his feet in putting forward alternative proposals. He urged Athens to put its own ideas on the table swiftly to enable talks to resume on the sidelines of an EU-Latin America summit on Wednesday in Brussels.

In Athens, a government official said Greece wanted to continue to negotiate “at a political level” to find convergence with the lenders.