Eurozone calls Monday summit to head off Greek default

Eurozone leaders have been called to an emergency summit on Monday as finance ministers failed to make any progress in resolving the Greek impasse.

The discussion lasted just about an hour, with eurozone president Jerone Dijsselbloem cutting short the Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis during his presentation on what his country needed.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde was equally tetchy at a press conference afterwards. “We are short of the dialogue we need to reach a resolution — we need to restore dialogue with adults in the room,” she said.

Ms Lagarde said they hope that over the next few days Greece will come back with tangible and deliverable measures that would allow the IMF to remain involved. “We are waiting — but no smoke and mirrors, they must be tangible proposals.”

A bad situation was made worse when it emerged that ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure told the meeting that while he believed Greek banks would open today, he added: “Monday, I don’t know.”

Asked about reported cash withdrawals of up to €2bn from Greek banks, Mr Dijsselbloem described it as “worrying”, but said it was up to the Greek government to look after their people’s future.

Asked about the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro, he said, “we are prepared for all eventualities”.

Mr Dijsselbloem appeared taken by surprise at the decision of European Council president Donald Tusk to call the emergency meeting on Monday. He said it was important for leaders to be informed, adding that “it is urgent, obviously”.

Asked what will be discussed on Monday, a spokesperson from the European Commission said that unless Greece delivered the list of changes and details on how they will make them over the next few days, they did not know.

“But you cannot hold 18 member states hostage. The commission is working to keep the eurozone together — we are there to help with ideas to make a compromise,” the spokesperson said.

Commissioner Pierre Moscovici appealed to Greece to get back to the negotiating table and “avoid a fate that would be catastrophic”.

Meanwhile,

Finance Minister Michael Noonan confirmed that his department was discussing with the NTMA and the Central Bank their options in the event of a Greek exit. He said he did not think Ireland would be adversely effected by such a move.