Greek debt talk wrap – important players not optimistic

It is nearly 4.30 pm in London and so far no sign of hopes from the Greece debt talk as the European leaders continue to struggle to come at a point of win-win, demanded by Greece's leftist Prime Minister Mr. Alexis Tsiparas.

Let us look at four of the Key players and their views on today's talk -

1.      Wolfgang Schäuble - German finance minister and will be the most difficult to please. He expects no deal from today and quoted "I feel sorry for the Greeks at the moment. They've elected a government which is currently acting irresponsibly."

2.      Yanis Varoufakis  - Greek finance minister and optimistic for a deal but may have limited power as it seems he needs approval from Athens (probably from Mr. Tsiparas) before signing to a deal. Quoted "We always find a solution."

3.      Michael Sapin - French finance minister and is ready to make room for some compromise but will not agree to debt write-off. Second most important after Germany. Quoted "The Germans are right from a certain point of view. Greece, not the government of today, the country, signed a number of agreements. They must respect those agreements independently of the change of government.

But the Greeks say and they are right, I support them, 'we have just changed government, so we are not going to do everything as before'."

4.      Luis De Guindos - Spanish finance minister and very much a hard liner. He has declared "Our red line is that [Greek] loans must be paid back in full." 

What we read from this is that probability is high for No Deal. The talks may extend to days if not weeks. So will the uncertainty regarding Euro. The EUR/USD is treading water near 1.14, not moving much today as the US markets remain closed over Washington's Birthday.