EU's Moscovici Says New Proposal to Greece 'Due Monday'

EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici at the start of the Eurogroup meeting at the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, June 24, 2015. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Greece will receive a new bailout proposal from the EU Commission later on Monday, AFP says, citing Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.

In his words, everybody still hopes that a compromise might be in place before Athens is forced to default on its debts on June 30, when a payment to the IMF is due to fall.

 

#BREAKING The president of the European Commission will make his latest proposals later on Monday to try to avoid a Greek default

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) June 29, 2015

So far the EU has remained reluctant to extending the bailout program, despite calls from Greece.

This comes hours after Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, called a bank holiday, with Greek lenders to remain shut by the end of the week.

His move followed the announcement of a referendum that will be held July 5 in which Greeks will have their say on whether or not to accept the Commission's latest package of proposals and unlock last tranches of bailout aid, thus remaining part of the Eurozone.

Moscovici told RTL on Monday that a deal between Greece and lenders is "only a few centimeters away" and is not yet impossible.

In his interview he stressed the need to talk the Greek government into calling for a "Yes" vote.

Earlier, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that, even though the July 5 referendum was referring to a bailout proposals that would have expired by the time, a "resounding yes" vote would trigger additional efforts on behalf of lenders to keep Greece afloat.

In case of a "No", Moscovici explained there were "alternative scenarios" to a Grexit.

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