Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/535515
4 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 1 JULY 2015 News Audacious crowdfund bid to raise €1.6 billion for Greece Marketing manager sets up a website to raise €1.6 billion in donations for debt-stricken Greece by Sunday MARKETING manager Thom Feeney, a Londoner, has set up a website to raise €1.6 billion to save Greece from defaulting on a massive loan to the International Monetary Fund, due last night. At one point on Tuesday evening, Indiegogo – the crowd- funding website – crashed under the weight of people trying to donate. "All this dithering over Greece is getting boring," Feeney said on the website. "European min- isters f lexing their muscles and posturing over whether they can help the Greek people of not. Why don't we the people just sort it out instead? "The European Union is home to 503 million people, if we all just chip in a few euro then we can get Greece sorted and hope- fully get them back on track soon. Easy." The campaign was launched on Sunday and has already reached over €255,000 in donations as of 8:30pm. Feeney pledged that all the money "will go to the Greek peo- ple" and claimed to have heard a rumour that Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras wants to get in touch with him. He is also promising Greek products in return for the funds – €3 will get you a postcard of Tsipras made and posted in Greece, €6 a Greek Feta and Ol- ive salad, €10 get a small bottle of Ouzo, €25 a bottle of Greek wine, €160 a basket of Greek food, €5,000 a Greek holiday for two, and €1 million "a lot of gratitude from citizens of Europe and par- ticularly the Greek people". All the money will be refunded if the target isn't reached by the end of the week, when Greece is due to hold a national referen- dum on whether or not to accept reform measures in return for the latest round of bailout funds that would help them pay their loan. "Europeans are pretty generous on the whole, maybe Ms Merkel and Mr Cameron are the excep- tion," Feeney wrote. "There are 500 million people in the EU and actually, it wouldn't cost each person much to just sort it out ourselves. I'm confident the peo- ple of Europe will get this cam- paign and some time soon we'll all be raising a glass of Ouzo and having a bloody great big cel- ebration." CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Eurozone finance ministers discussed the Greek offer in a teleconference yesterday evening and address- ing parliament before the finance ministers' meeting, Muscat said it was too early for the Maltese government to pronounce itself on the matter as events were still developing. "Malta believes that Greece should stay in the euro but soli- darity comes with responsibil- ity," Muscat said. As the IMF midnight deadline to repay €1.7 billion loomed, Greece asked for a suspension, however Eurogroup ministers turned down the request and the eurozone finance ministers are set to hold a second teleconfer- ence today. Speaking at the end of the Eurogroup meeting, chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said Ath- ens' stance towards its creditors would have to change before its eurozone partners could con- sider any additional financial aid and that Greece was set to de- fault at midnight. Despite the Greek govern- ment's eleventh hour attempt, German chancellor Angela Mer- kel extinguished all hope of a last minute deal after saying that Berlin isn't prepared to negotiate a third bailout before Sunday's referendum. Reaching an agreement on a third bailout could take months and in the letter sent to the ESM and the Eurogroup, the Greek government asked for an exten- sion to the current bailout to ensure that a technical default is not triggered. Meanwhile, unpublished docu- ments compiled by Greece's creditors, show that even if Greece signs up to the full pack- age of tax and spending reforms demanded of it, Greece would face an unsustainable level of debt by 2030. The documents show that the IMF's baseline estimate is that Greece's debt would still be 118% of GDP in 2030, well above the 110% the IMF regards as sustain- able, given Greece's debt profile, a level set in 2012. Currently, Greece's debt stands at 175% of GDP and is likely to go higher because of its recent slide back into recession. A deal on a third bailout re- mains elusive because loans from the ESM come with condi- tions which would include many of the economic and structural reforms that the two sides have been haggling over for months with very little success. Confirming that the nego- tiations were reopened, Mus- cat warned that although last evening's talks could be a break- through in the impasse, he said it could turn out to be a ploy by Greece to gain time. No security threat Muscat also reassured Parlia- ment that there is no imminent threat to Malta's security follow- ing last week 's terrorist attack in Tunisia, in which 38 people were killed. Condemning three separate terrorist attacks which took place on Friday in Tunisia, Kuwait and France, Muscat said that he has been informed by the security services that there is no new information on possible se- curity threats to Malta. Muscat also told Parliament that the EU agreement on migra- tion is an 'insurance policy' for Malta. Rebutting PN leader Simon Bu- suttil 's criticism that the agree- ment did not impose "manda- tory" relocation, Muscat argued that reaching an agreement over 60,000 migrants – increasing the figure from 40,000 – showed a certain element of solidarity by the EU. He said that although Malta is not facing an emergency, it was of utmost importance to get all countries to agree to relocate 40,000 persons from Greece and Italy to other states over the next two years. EU leaders also agreed to resettle another 20,000 refu- gees who are currently outside the EU. "At the moment we're not fac- ing an emergency but this could change overnight. The drastic decrease in arrivals is down to an excellent relationship with Italy," he said, adding that Mal- ta's decision to accept its share of migrants " bolstered " the coun- try's reputation and ensured that Malta would be helped if it faces future emergencies. Greece on the brink