Greece says deal with creditors is close

(Vatican Radio) Greece embarks upon a tense weekend, as the Athens government has shrugged off increasingly dire warnings by the European Union to agree to its reform demands or face bankruptcy.

Listen to the report by John Carr:

A government spokesman characterized the latest such warning by Donald Tusk, the chairman of the European Council of Ministers, as unnecessary and unwanted.  At the same time, however, the general message coming out of Athens is that a deal is in the works, with 10 days to go before the present bailout agreement expires.

That is also when some 1.2 billion euros of a repayment to the International Monetary Fund comes due.  Earlier this week Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras branded the IMF’s strong-arm tactics as criminal.

Tsipras is today expected back from Moscow, where he had a much-publicized meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in another attempt to play the Russia card and secure commercial deals.

But on the home front, public pressure is growing on Tsipras to do a deal with the creditors, even if it means more austerity in the short term, as in the continuing war of nerves, Greeks are lining up at the ATMs to draw their cash out at ever-faster rates.