Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/541394
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 15 JULY 2015 5 News Tusk almost gave up hope on Greek deal: 'Should we let it go?' he asked MIRIAM DALLI IT'S 4:30am in Brussels and nerves are frayed: the future of Greece in the Eurozone is in the balance and 18 heads of state and leaders of the institu- tions are split. It's a do-or-die situation and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has already given in to a lot of his country's creditors demands; but he does not want to let go of his country's sover- eignty by agreeing to park €50 billion worth of Greek assets in an external fund. His gov- ernment also appears to have a problem with the Interna- tional Monetary Fund's future involvement in the €86 billion programme. The Eurogroup, along with Greece's finance minister Eu- clid Tsakalatos, drafted a tough document for Greece. It is even harsher than the one that sparked off a referendum and was overwhelmingly rejected. And it was now up to the lead- ers to agree to it. The leaders are on their 'third break ': Tsipras is on call with Athens; the leaders are split in groups. Germany does not want to let go of the privatisation fund. France does not want to let go of Greece. A Grexit is now dangerously close … almost the least worst option left. European Council President Donald Tusk turns to Francois Hollande and says: "Should we let it go?" France has been sticking its neck out for Greece for far too long to give up now. "Never. If that happens it would be the beginning of the end for the Eurozone," Hollande says as he turns sharply towards Tusk. So the four-way negotiations between Tsipras, Merkel, Hol- lande and Tusk continue until a deal is finally ironed out at 8.55am – 17 hours after the leaders sat around the table and almost 24 hours after the Euro- group met at the Lex Building. The rift between Germany and France was evident from the start, but Hollande insisted that without the Paris-Berlin axis, an agreement would have never been reached. "When Germany and France are not united, Europe cannot go forward," Hollande said in an interview. France's refusal to isolate Greece can also be viewed in this context: France has repeat- edly failed to meet European deadlines to bring its public deficit under the 3% of GDP required by the European Un- ion. In 2013, France was given a two-year deadline to meet the target but have been persuaded to extend this for another two years. Paris does not currently envisage doing so before 2017, but has managed to convince Brussels to let it off being fined. Former Greek finance minis- ter Yanis Varoufakis last week wrote: "Based on months of ne- gotiation, my conviction is that the German finance minister wants Greece to be pushed out of the single currency to put the fear of God into the French and have them accept his model of a disciplinarian Eurozone." Speaking to reporters after a sleepless night – and a missed f light – Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the gruelling talks hadn't been "a pretty sight". Greece's battle is far from over, both in Athens and in Brussels. The agreement goes against the anti-austerity pledge Syriza was elected on; in Brussels, finance ministers have to agree to find between €7bn and €12bn in bridge loans for Greece to hold it over until mid-August when a full bailout might be secured. UK Chancellor George Os- borne said: "Britain is not in the Euro, so the idea that Brit- ish taxpayers are on the line for this Greek deal is a complete non-starter … The Eurozone needs to foot its own bill." 'Greek tragedy not yet over' - Muscat The deal reached between Greece and its creditors is not the final solution, Prime Min- ister Joseph Muscat said. "This was a very important meeting, at times even dra- matic. But I don't think that we can safely think that a final solution has been found. There are numerous measures which Greece must undertake for member states to agree for the opening of negotiations for a third bailout," Muscat said. Briefing parliament yesterday evening, the Prime Minister said everything now depends on whether the Greek govern- ment will stick to its part of the deal. Muscat welcomed the con- troversial agreement to set up a privatisation fund to which Greece will transfer some €50 billion of its assets, saying this would ensure that the money it gains from will be exclusively used to repay debt and recapi- talise banks. He also brushed off fears relat- ing to Bank of Valletta's finan- cial status, in the light of unse- cured loans recently granted by the bank to Air Malta, pointing out that all Maltese banks re- cently passed European stress tests. Muscat reassured that thanks to recent economic growth Malta's exposure to Greece stood at 2.1%, down from 3.2% of its GDP when the second bailout was approved in 2012. Muscat also stressed the im- portance of ensuring that no haircuts were agreed. "It was clear that several member states, Malta included, were not going to accept any reduc- tions," Muscat told Parliament. On his part, opposition depu- ty leader Mario de Marco cast doubt on whether Greece will be able to fork out €4.2 billion which it owes to the European Central Bank, by the 20 July deadline. "This won't be the last we've heard of the Greek debt cri- sis and a deal still hinges on whether Greece is going to be able to implement what it has promised," he said. No tourist rush to Malta after Tunisia attack TIM DIACONO A recent terror attack on a Tuni- sian beach resort does not appear to have significantly boosted tourist arrivals to Malta. "We might have gained a trickle of tourists who would have oth- erwise visited Tunisia, perhaps 5,000 people," tourism entrepre- neur and Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo told MaltaToday. "It's a boost, but pittance when one considers that around 180,000 tourists arrive in Malta every Ju- ly. We're certainly not experienc- ing a tourism rush that outsiders might have imagined." Tunisia's tourism industry has suffered a massive blow since a gunman killed 38 tourists at a resort on 26 June, an attack that ISIS has claimed responsibility for. Tunisia is expected to lose some 2 million tourist nights over the next year, as European govern- ments warned last week that the North African country is no longer a safe destination. 23 hotels have already shut- tered since the attack, and the Tunisian Hotel Federation has claimed that practically no Eu- ropean tourists remain in the country. Yet, despite sharing a Medi- terranean climate with Tu- nisia, Malta does not seem to have benefitted from a tourism spillover effect. A Malta Inter- national Airport spokesperson confirmed that no f lights have been added to their schedule since 26 June. While passen- ger arrivals have increased, they have been on the rise for the past few years, rendering it impossible for the airport to isolate the impact of the Tuni- sia effect. Similarly, an Air Malta spokesperson said that they have continued to receive f light bookings normally and have not experienced any ef- fects following the Tunisia at- tack. "We continue to monitor the situation and will react accord- ingly should the need arises," he said. Arrigo, managing director of Robert Arrigo & Sons, explained that Malta and Tunisia don't share the same tourist clientele. "Most tourist who visit Tunisia are after a cheap Mediterranean holiday," he said. "A two-week stay at a four-star Tunisian beach resort costs around €400, around the same price as an Air Malta f light to London. Therefore, tourists searching for an alter- native holiday to Tunisia would probably first look at Greece, then Spain, then Turkey, and then Malta." Malta Hotels Association Pres- ident Tony Zahra also said that the Tunisia spillover only had a "marginal" impact on Maltese tourism, if that. "Malta's hotel bookings were already very high before the at- tacks, and we didn't conduct an empirical study to ascertain whether they rose by some 1% or 2% after the attack. Either way, any spillover wasn't significant." Despite closure of hotels in Tunisia local operators not expecting surge in tourist arrivals 38 tourists were killed when an armed gunman attacked a tourist resort in Sousse Greek premier Alexis Tsipras (centre) in conversation with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande