Paris and Berlin demand ‘precise proposals’ of Greek leader

The leaders of France and Germany seemed to speak directly to Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday, telling him that he urgently needs to make new proposals to Europe in the wake of Greece's No vote.

The ball was in Mr Tsipras's court, French president François Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel said at the Élysée Palace. At today's euro zone summit, "it will be up to the heads of state and government to define a position based on proposals made by Greece, " Mr Hollande said. "I insist on the fact that there is not much time left, that it is urgent for Greece and for Europe."

“The door is open for discussions,” Dr Merkel said. “At the same time, the conditions required to enter new negotiations on a concrete programme with the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) are not present. That’s why we expect precise proposals from the Greek prime minister.”

Mr Hollande had called for “solidarity” with Greece. “We have shown a great deal of solidarity with Greece, and the last proposal [we] made was very generous,” Dr Merkel said, insisting repeatedly on the fact that all 18 members of the euro zone have a say in negotiations.

There was palpable tension between Mr Hollande’s wish to salvage an agreement with Athens and Dr Merkel’s desire to be done with it. Mr Hollande’s Socialist Party stated clearly that “Greece must stay in the euro zone”.

"It's obvious that the response to the Greek No cannot be an automatic exit," Emmanuel Macron, Mr Hollande's former economic adviser, now minister for the economy, told BFM-TV. "That would be a huge, historic error."

‘Ready to help’

“I’m ready to help you, but help me help you,” Mr Hollande told Mr Tsipras when the Greek leader telephoned him on Sunday night. If Mr Hollande is to mediate successfully between Greece and Germany, he desperately needs concessions from Mr Tsipras.

A poll published on July 3rd showed that 67 per cent of French people believe Dr Merkel has the greatest power over decision-making in Europe, compared to 2 per cent who cited Mr Hollande.

"The problem is that Merkel has Germany behind her," said the political scientist Pascal Perrineau. "Who is behind François Hollande?"

"In Europe, France's credibilty as the second economy in the euro zone has greatly diminished," the editorialist Vincent Giret said on France Info radio. "Because she broke her word regarding her own accounts, because she procrastinated on reforms, France lost all credit with her European partners."

To satisfy the French left, Mr Hollande needs to show that he is closer to Syriza than he is to the International Monetary Fund.

On July 1st, the French leader distanced himself from Dr Merkel. The chancellor said there could be no further negotiations with Greece until after the referendum. Mr Hollande called for negotiations to continue in the hope of reaching an immediate agreement.

"Greece is falling apart. A prime minister from the extreme left acts irrationally, and that's the moment when François Hollande chooses to disagree with Angela Merkel?" the previous president, Nicolas Sarkozy, asked incredulously.

‘Leap into the void’

Mr Hollande had warned of “a leap into the void” if Greece voted No in the referendum.

“We must constantly seek agreement, negotiation, reason,” the French president said. “Everyone must be convinced of that. France . . . is not for brutality. The goal of her presence is for us to obtain an agreement for Europe, for Greece, for France.”

Much as he wants to keep Greece in the euro zone, Mr Hollande knows that a majority of the single currency’s member states want Greece to leave. And he has decided that preserving the “Franco-German couple” must take priority.

"Whenever the situation is difficult in Europe, one must return to the fundamentals," a source at the Élysée Palace told Le Monde.

“That is to say, the Franco-German couple, without which nothing is possible . . . Nothing would be worse at present than the appearance of disunity between French and Germans.”