Greece PM commits to providing list of reforms #39;within days #39;
EU leaders say Greece commits to drafting reform plan soon BRUSSELS (AP) Top leaders of the European Union emerged from a meeting with the Greek prime minister early Friday telling him......
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March 20, 2015: 3D animation video about the Total Solar Eclipse in Europe. The European Union has about 90 Gigawatts of solar power and production may temporarily decrease by up to 34 GW of...
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BRUSSELS: Top leaders of the European Union emerged from a meeting with the Greek prime minister early Friday saying much what they have been for weeks: Greece needs to come up with a reform plan if it wants more of their money. But now it's on a tighter timetable.
The EU leaders said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras committed to providing a list of specific reforms in the coming days that would improve his country's balance sheet. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the leaders did not discuss specific numbers.
Hanging over the summit of 28 heads of state and government are fears that the hard line of the Greek government formed in January could cause the country to drop out of the euro, something that would trigger a crisis for the currency shared by 19 nations.
Tsipras made a last-minute request for a mini-summit Thursday night with half a dozen top EU officials. Those officials agreed to the meeting over the objections from some of the other leaders, who complained they were being left out. In addition to Merkel and Tsipras, the meeting included French President Francois Hollande, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and EU President Donald Tusk.
The leaders emerged more optimistic than when they went in, but gave little evidence of why, other than the timetable of "the next days" for Tsipras to present them with his intended reforms.
"The Greek government will take full responsibility for the reforms and submit a list of these reforms, which will be a comprehensive list of specific reforms, in the coming days," Merkel said.
Tsipras was upbeat as well.
"We are more optimist after this deliberation," he said. "All the sides confirmed their intention to try their best to overcome the difficulties of the Greek economy as soon as possible."
European leaders have become increasingly exasperated by what many see as foot-dragging on the part of Tsipras' government. Greece agreed a month ago to push through reforms in exchange for EU help in keeping it solvent, but has delayed submitting the list.
"A deal is a deal," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said ahead of the meeting.
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European Union leaders say Greece commits to drafting reform plan
BRUSSELS Top leaders of the European Union emerged from a meeting with the Greek prime minister early Friday, telling him much what they have for weeks: Come up with a reform plan if you want more money to stay solvent. And do it fast.
The EU leaders said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras committed to providing a list of specific reforms in the coming days that would improve his country's balance sheet. Tsipras, however, said he had not committed to "recessionary measures" that would worsen the plight of his people.
Hanging over the summit of 28 heads of state and government are fears that the hard line of the Greek government formed in January could cause the country to drop out of the euro, something that would trigger a crisis for the currency shared by 19 nations.
Tsipras made a last-minute request for a mini-summit Thursday night. Among those at the three-hour meeting were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and EU President Donald Tusk.
The leaders emerged more optimistic than when they went in but gave little evidence of why, other than the timetable of "the next days" for Tsipras to present them with his intended reforms.
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European Union leaders dampen Greek hopes for bailout relief
BRUSSELS European Union heads of state and government spent the final day of their spring summit focused on the situation in Libya and on ways to boost the bloc's economy:
ECONOMY: Leaders backed a plan by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to spur investment. They also affirmed a target of the end of the year to conclude free-trade negotiations with the United States.
LIBYA: The leaders, fearful the unrest in Libya could splash over into Europe, tasked the EU's top diplomat with helping mediate talks between Libya's warring factions.
Here's what happened on Thursday:
UKRAINE: Leaders agreed not to lift EU sanctions on Russia until all the points of a peace accord for eastern Ukraine have been fulfilled. EU leaders also asked the bloc's foreign policy chief to come up with better ways to counter what they call Russian disinformation about the Ukraine conflict.
ENERGY UNION: Europe wants to create an energy union to decrease its dependency on oil and gas from Russia. The leaders pledged to end the separation between their 28 national energy markets, which they said would save European consumers about 40 billion euros ($43 billion) a year.
GREECE: EU leaders said the Greek prime minister recommitted to providing a list of concrete reform proposals in the coming days, as demanded by its creditors.
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EU leaders wrap up spring summit by discussing crisis in Libya, economic policy