Greece’s creditors yesterday issued their starkest warnings to Athens since the start of a five-month stand-off over the country’s soon-to-expire 172bn bailout, with the International Monetary Fund withdrawing its negotiating team and European leaders saying the time for compromise had ended.
希腊的债权人昨日向希腊政府发出了持续已5个月的这场对峙开始以来最严厉的警告,国际货币基金组织(IMF)撤回了其谈判团队,而欧洲领导人则表示妥协期已经结束。这场对峙的焦点是该国很快将到期的1720亿欧元纾困计划。
The pointed language in public reflected growing private fears that Alexis Tsipras, Greek prime minister, had overestimated the amount of time he had left to cut a deal to release the bailout’s final 7.2bn tranche.
公开发表的尖锐措辞反映出各方私下里越来越担心,希腊总理亚历克西斯•齐普拉斯(Alexis Tsipras)错误地认为,他还有时间达成协议,从而拿到上述纾困计划的最后72亿欧元。
In a series of meetings in Brussels,Mr Tsipras was told his cash-strapped government must quickly decide whether to accede to more economic reforms or face bankruptcy.
在布鲁塞尔举行的一系列会议上,齐普拉斯被告知,他领导的现金匮乏的政府必须尽快做出决定,要么同意推行更多经济改革,要么面对破产。
“We need decisions not negotiations now. It’s my opinion that the Greek government has to be, I think, a little more realistic,” said Donald Tusk, the European Council president, who met Mr Tsipras privately on Wednesday.
欧洲理事会(European Council)主席唐纳德•图斯克(Donald Tusk)周三曾私下会晤齐普拉斯,他表示:“眼下我们需要的是决定,而不是谈判。按照我的观点,我认为希腊政府必须更现实一些。”
“There’s no more space for gambling, there’s no more time for gambling. The day is coming, I’m afraid, where someone says the game is over.”
“豪赌的空间已经没有了,豪赌的时间也已经没有了。恐怕,由某个人宣布游戏结束的这一天正在来临。”
The IMF was equally direct. It announced that its lead negotiators had returned to Washington, citing a lack of progress in negotiations. “There are major differences between us in most key areas,” said Gerry Rice, IMF spokesman. “There has been no progress in narrowing these differences recently.”
IMF的表态也同样直接。该组织宣布其首席谈判专家已经返回华盛顿,理由是谈判缺乏进展。IMF发言人格里•赖斯(Gerry Rice)表示:“我们之间在多数关键领域存在重大分歧。近期双方在缩小这些分歧方面没有取得任何进展。”