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Greece on edge as it awaits creditors’ ‘ultimatum’

Struggling Greece was on tenterhooks on Tuesday amid speculation that it was about to receive an ultimatum from its international creditors. The heads of the IMF and the European Central Bank on Monday held talks with the leaders of Germany and France, and the head of the European Commission to reportedly come up with a…

greece mapStruggling Greece was on tenterhooks on Tuesday amid speculation that it was about to receive an ultimatum from its international creditors.

The heads of the IMF and the European Central Bank on Monday held talks with the leaders of Germany and France, and the head of the European Commission to reportedly come up with a “final proposal” to Athens.

The country’s radical leftist government on Tuesday said it had not received any proposals from its creditors, but senior officials said Athens would defiantly reject an “ultimatum” if it came to that.

“We do not accept ultimata or succumb to blackmail,” deputy prime minister Yiannis Dragasakis said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Other officials said the government would rather hold snap elections than accept a deal piling on more austerity.

“If the agreement is bad for the government, the people and the country it will not even be tabled in parliament… we will have to hold elections,” junior labour minister Dimitris Stratoulis told Skai Radio.

Greece has been locked for four months in tough negotiations with international creditors in a bid to release 7.2 billion euros in remaining bailout funds.

A deal has so far proved elusive as its creditors in Europe and the IMF push for greater reforms in return for the cash, which Greece’s anti-austerity government has refused to match.

Greece is staring at a Friday deadline to repay over 300 million euros ($328 million) it owes to the IMF.

There are fears Greece does not have the necessary funds and will default, possibly setting off a chain-reaction that could end with a messy exit from the eurozone.

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