Withdrawal from the European Union

By Paul Taylor

Even if it survives the next three months teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Greece may have blown its best chance of a long-term debt deal by alienating its eurozone partners when it most needed their support.

By Nikos Konstandaras

Grexit – The Greek withdrawal from the eurozone.

Grexodus – Better conveys the Greek withdrawal to convey the meaning of a Greek withdrawal because “exit” is a Latin word but “exodus” is Greek in origin. In the biblical use, the word conveys deliverance from bondage.

Grexident – A Greek withdrawal from the eurozone that catches everyone unaware as it happens by accident.

A deal on Greeces bailout is possible before the end of April, EU Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday as Athens continued tough talks with its creditors on a disputed list of reforms.

Tusk said the negotiations were "complex," and while nothing was expected before Easter, a late April deadline agreed between Greece and its EU-IMF creditors was still within reach.

Billionaire financier George Soros (photo) put the chance of Greece leaving the eurozone at one in three on Monday.

Last week he had put it at 50:50.

[Reuters]

Officials representing Greece and its lenders on Saturday began discussing the reform proposals put forward by Athens in order to secure further bailout funding but the prospect of a Eurogroup meeting being called in the next few days to approve such a disbursal appear slim.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday that time was running out for Greece, which is trying to renegotiate the terms of its bailout.

At a news conference in Berlin about the German government's spending plans, Schaeuble said Greece had repeatedly said it didn't want a third bailout programme.

The European Union's financial affairs chief Pierre Moscovici warned in a magazine against underestimating the risks associated with Greece leaving the eurozone, saying such a step could be the beginning of the end for the common currency.

European Commission (EC) President Jean Claude-Juncker criticised on Friday the lack of progress in the negotiations on Greece's bailout.

However Juncker assured that there was no risk of failure in the talks, which could lead to Greece leaving the Eurozone, EurActiv reports.

A leading lawmaker from Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc has described a Greek exit from the eurozone as a «great opportunity» for the country to bolster its economy, in the latest sign that German sentiment towards a so-called "Grexit" is shifting.