Emergency summit on Greece set after talks end, fears rise

Associated Press

LUXEMBOURG

The eurozone’s 19 leaders have been summoned to an emergency summit next week after talks about Greece’s bailout ended in acrimony Thursday, intensifying fears that the country was heading for bankruptcy and an exit from the euro.

Donald Tusk, who chairs meetings of European leaders, called them to Brussels on Monday evening to “urgently discuss the situation of Greece at the highest political level” – frustrated at the lack of progress less than two weeks before a big payment Athens has to make to the International Monetary Fund.

It will be one of, if not the most important meeting In the euro’s 16-year existence. Greece’s future in the currency, which it joined in 2002, could very well be at stake when Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces his peers, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

“The key emergency, in my view, is to restore a dialogue with adults in the room,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.