Greece: Debt deal done? Falling apart?
Managing Director of the Institute of International Finance Charles Dallara (L) and senior advisor to France’s BNP Paribas Jean Lemierre leave the Greek Prime minister’s office after talks in Athens last Friday
Today was supposed to be the day Greece and its private bondholders reached a deal on how big a write down, or "haircut," the creditors would take.
But talks broke-up over the weekend and the outcome is not clear, as Greek newspaper eKathimerini reports.
To those who watch these dramas on a regular basis there is something as familiar in the talks reaching a knife edge as the structure of an episode of Law & Order.
Whatever happens later today, or tomorrow or the day after. This is just the prologue to the first act of a play called the "Euro: the last 90 days?" (Thanks to Stephen Gallo of Schneider FX for originating the drama metaphor).
EU finance ministers are meeting today in Brussels to get down to agreeing the nitty-gritty of the new fiscal compact that will guide the euro zone.
Their deliberations may be distracted by a similar meeting of EU Foreign Ministers who are expected to endorse oil sanctions against Iran. Greece gets a lot of its fuel from Iran, sanctions won't help the country's economy much.