Why Tsakalotos opted to skip the Eurogroup

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos chose to skip last week's Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, where serious criticism was expressed against Greek government decisions. The minister's explanation for staying in Athens was that Greece would not be on the agenda of the eurozone finance ministers' talks, which he knew was not the case.

After Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his handouts on May 7, the first worrying emails from the creditors' mission chiefs in Athens started reaching Eurogroup head Mario Centeno. The Portuguese minister decided it was right to hold a brief discussion on the issue in last Thursday's Eurogroup meeting, even though Greece was originally not on the agenda, in order to grant the Greek minister the opportunity to explain the logic of those measures.

Tsakalotos' office was informed about that a few days before the meeting, as is regularly...