European Leaders Deciding On Greece’s Fate Agree That Talks Must Intensify

June 02,2015

European leaders and the head of the International Monetary Fund agreed to intensify talks over Greece’s fate after a top-level meeting in Berlin about ways to avert a default.

The huddle lasted past midnight into Tuesday morning at the German Chancellery with Angela Merkel, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in attendance. The goal was to hammer out an offer that Greece could consider in coming days, according to two people familiar with the plan.

After Merkel left, her office put out a statement saying only that the five leaders “agreed that work must now be continued with greater intensity” and that “they have been in closest contact in recent days and want to remain so in the coming days, both among themselves and naturally also with the Greek government.”

Efforts to end an impasse over funding have become urgent as the nation faces a debt repayment to the IMF on Friday. While Greece says it can make the payment, it’s the smallest of four totaling almost 1.6 billion euros ($1.78 billion) this month. The timing coincides with the expiration of a euro-region bailout by the end of June.