More Unfounded Greek Optimism

Sources in Greek PM's office optimistic for a deal with institutions soon. At 2PM ministers' council in Athens. #Greece

— Stratos Safioleas (@stratosathens) April 30, 2015

Such were the headlines this time last week, just before last Friday's car crash of a Eurogroup meeting!

Greek Pension Cuts Unconstitutional

#Greece Supreme Court to declare austerity cuts in pensions as unconstitutional, reports say. Ruling could completely derail fiscal position

— Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) April 30, 2015

Banquo's Ghost

Varoufakis claims that he is still in charge of Greece's debt "negotiations".

Greek Banks Have EU3BN of Liquidity Left

*GREEK BANKS SAID TO HAVE ABOUT EU3B LIQUIDITY AFTER ELA RAISE

— lemasabachthani (@lemasabachthani) April 29, 2015

Greece Warns Holidaymakers To Take Cash

Despite the recent rearrangement of the deckchairs on the sinking Trireme, wrt the sidelining of Varoufakis, Greece is still very much on the precipice.

Municipalities have refused to comply with the central government's smash and grab raid on local cash reserves, and have demanded to know what the cash will be used for and whether Syriza will be honouring its election pledges.

Faced with the reality of capital controls and bank runs, the Greek tourist board in London has advised holidaymakers going to Greece to take euros in notes and coins in case then ATMs are switched off (which seems very likely in the not too distant future).

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has weighed in, and said that travellers should take "enough money to cover emergencies and any unexpected delays".

It is going to be long hot summer in Athens this year!

Varoufakis To Be Thrown Under The Bus

It would appear that despite the fact that he welcomes hatred, Varoufakis has managed to piss off everyone to such an extent that Tsipras is rearranging the deckchairs of his negotiating team even though the Greek trireme is rapidly sinking beneath the waves.

This rearrangement is somewhat late in the day and will not be enough to save the situation.

Greek Bank Run Continues

According to Bloomberg Greek households and companies withdrew almost 1.3 billion euros in savings from Greek banks last week.

Unsurprisingly the Greek government is beginning to "fret" about the situation (albeit two months too late). Bild reported today that Tsipras asked Merkel to convene an emergency European Union leaders’ summit. Needless to say a Greek government spokesman denied the report.

I dare say that the denial is based on the fact that Merkel refused. Quite rightly so, as she has repeatedly told Tsipras that the decision for providing finance to Greece is not in her gift, but in the hands of the Troika.

Tsipras's attempts to short circuit the Troika simply serve to further isolate the country from its European "partners".

Two Days Is a Long Time In The Greek Tragedy

Just to be clear, Greece was spinning this bullshit only two days ago!! http://t.co/eFPC1Hk0AN #greece #bullshit #hype #delusional

— Ken Frost (@ken_frost) April 24, 2015

Varoufakis The Gambler and Time Waster

@FerroTV "Varoufakis Said to Be Called Gambler, Time-Waster in Meeting"
— MacroMuse (@Manish_05Singh) April 24, 2015

Greece will be back on the agenda again in May, as fuck all was achieved today.

 EPIC FAIL!

Riga Meeting Summary

Summary of what we know on #Eurogroup so far: over quickly, little progress, lots of frustration with #Greece, less than amicable.

— Open Europe (@OpenEurope) April 24, 2015

Unfriendly and fuck all progress.

No surprises there then!

No Greek Deal

Dijsselbloem: "We're going to take stock of the situation and then we'll see what the next weeks will bring us" - i.e. no deal today #Greece
— Open Europe (@OpenEurope) April 24, 2015

Schäuble ahead of #Eurogroup: No one should have any expectations that we will make definitive progress on the question of Greece today

— Open Europe (@OpenEurope) April 24, 2015

As expected, and contrary to the fantasy headlines being pushed by Greece, there will be no deal or even a sniff of a deal in Riga today.

No Breakthrough Expected At Riga

Contrary to Greece's fantasy, there will be no breakthrough at Riga.

DOMBROVSKIS SAYS NO BREAKTHROUGH EXPECTED AT RIGA TALKS

— Jonathan Ferro (@FerroTV) April 23, 2015

Greece Loses Touch With Reality

*GREECE EXPECTS POSITIVE SIGNAL FROM EUROGROUP MEETING IN RIGA *GREEK GOVT OFFICIAL SAYS DEAL WITH CREDITORS VERY CLOSE
— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) April 23, 2015

A remarkable degree of optimism being displayed by Greece, given that it hasn't submitted an acceptable list of reforms and that the ECB is planning for a haircut!

Greece Will Not Present List of Reforms

Thomas Wieser, who heads the Eurogroup Working Group, has said that Greece will not present a list of economic reforms to euro zone finance ministers on Friday

It never had any intention of doing so, the laughable 6 day deadline has long since passed as has any credibility that this process might have once had!

ECB Losing Patience With Greece

Bloomberg reports that the European Central Bank is studying measures to rein in Emergency Liquidity Assistance to Greek banks, as resistance to further aiding the country’s stricken lenders grows in the Governing Council.

ECB staff have produced a proposal to increase the haircuts banks take on the collateral they post when borrowing from the Bank of Greece.

While the measure hasn’t been formally discussed by the Governing Council, it may be considered if Greece’s leaders fail to quickly convince euro-area finance ministers they can reform their economy and secure bailout funds.