希臘與債權人談判瀕臨破裂

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.

希臘的債權人昨日向希臘政府發出了持續已5個月的這場對峙開始以來最嚴厲的警告，國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)撤回了其談判團隊，而歐洲領導人則表示妥協期已經結束。這場對峙的焦點是該國很快將到期的1720億歐元紓困計劃。

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.

公開發表的尖銳措辭反映出各方私下裏越來越擔心，希臘總理亞歷克西斯•齊普拉斯(Alexis Tsipras)錯誤地認爲，他還有時間達成協議，從而拿到上述紓困計劃的最後72億歐元。

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.

在布魯塞爾舉行的一系列會議上，齊普拉斯被告知，他領導的現金匱乏的政府必須儘快做出決定，要麼同意推行更多經濟改革，要麼面對破產。

“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.

歐洲理事會(European Council)主席唐納德•圖斯克(Donald Tusk)週三曾私下會晤齊普拉斯，他表示：“眼下我們需要的是決定，而不是談判。按照我的觀點，我認爲希臘政府必須更現實一些。”

“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.”

“豪賭的空間已經沒有了，豪賭的時間也已經沒有了。恐怕，由某個人宣佈遊戲結束的這一天正在來臨。”

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的表態也同樣直接。該組織宣佈其首席談判專家已經返回華盛頓，理由是談判缺乏進展。IMF發言人格里•賴斯(Gerry Rice)表示：“我們之間在多數關鍵領域存在重大分歧。近期雙方在縮小這些分歧方面沒有取得任何進展。”