With the ATMs literally running out of cash in Greece after PM Alexis Tsipras announced a referendum in a dramatic, early morning televised address to the nation, EU finance ministers are meeting in Brussels today to determine what the next steps are now that Athens has effectively given creditors an ultimatum.
According to MNI, three options are being discussed at the Eurogroup emergency session.
The first involves effectively hitting the "reset" button, withdrawing all existing proposals, and extending the deadline for the end of the second program although without providing for more liquidity.
Alternatively, the EU may decide to stick to a proposal tabled on June 1, which represented a compromise on fiscal targets but preserved creditors' "red lines" on pensions and the VAT.
Finally, the EU may decide to present Yanis Varoufakis with a take-it-or-leave-it proposal that contains VAT compromises and special considerations for Greek islands which are critical to the country's tourism industry. Varoufakis would then need to call Alexis Tsipras and attempt to secure a hasty agreement.
(Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb talks to Yanis Varoufakis on Saturday)
We'll get more color later today once the emergency meeting breaks up. For now, we'll leave you with the following from MNI (citing sources close to the negotiations):
Another Eurogroup source said that the Ministers are preparing for all possible scenarios butthe "spin" of the situation is to put the blame to the Greek government for backing down while knowing that a new compromise proposal was about to be presented during the Eurogroup meeting.
Meanwhile, at the ATMs:
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