Ministers to decide on Greek proposals

Today is ‘D-Day’ for Greece as the eurogroup wait to receive and evaluate proposals from the Tsipras government for a third bailout programme.

The ECB held its fire too, agreeing to maintain ELA (emergency liquidity assistance) at its current level but not increasing the amount of collateral they hold against it — which would have, in effect, reduced the amount of liquidity in the system. The Greek Central Bank said banks are unlikely to reopen this week.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras took his case to the European Parliament that was sitting at its monthly plenary session in Strasbourg and explained his case to a mixed reception. If he had any doubts about convincing all shades of political opinion about the justice of his cause, he was left in no doubt that not all shared his economic perspective.