Mario Draghi. | Photo by EPA Greek drama Draghi, not Merkel, likely to decide Greece’s fate With almost no time left for the member states to back a Greek deal, the ECB must decide on extending financial lifeline.

BERLIN — All of Europe is looking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to break the impasse with Athens, but as the prospects for a quick deal fade, it’s becoming more likely that Greece’s future will be determined in Frankfurt, not Berlin.

Unless there’s a breakthrough in the next few days, there won’t be enough time to clear the necessary technical and procedural hurdles, such as a vote in the Bundestag and other parliaments, before the end of the month.

That would place Greece’s fate in the hands of Mario Draghi. The European Central Bank president would have to decide whether to maintain the financial lifeline the ECB has extended to Greek banks, a risky move that would put the bank’s reputation at risk. But cutting them off could cause the banks to collapse and force Greece from the euro.

The key date is June 30, a target that is now nearly impossible to hit. Greece has broken a string of real and imagined deadlines in recent months. About the only issue Athens and its counterparts agree on now though is that June 30 is the drop-dead date to come to some kind of solution. Greece has to repay €1.6 billion in International Monetary Fund loans by then or face default.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday that the fund would not extend the deadline.

“The Eurogroup’s meeting this Thursday could well be the last chance to get any disbursement ready in time for the bundled payment to the IMF on June 30, but we are not holding our breath,” Merrill Lynch economists said in a note on Thursday, referring to the meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg.

Greece’s bailout program also expires on June 30. The current negotiations center on the reforms Athens must adopt in order to win the final installment of aid. If Greece’s creditors refuse to release the final €7.2 billion in the rescue fund by that day, the money won’t be disbursed.

As finance ministers gathered Thursday for yet another crisis meeting on Greece, the key players appeared less focused on trying to bridge their differences than on assigning blame for the failure of the talks.

“We need to be honest, there is no time left for games and Greece has to face that reality,” Slovakian Finance Minister Peter Kažimír said on his way into the meeting. His comments were echoed by several of his colleagues.

Draghi, however, remained silent, shuffling past reporters on his way in with barely a smile.

The Italian has steered the eurozone through tricky seas before, most notably in 2012 when he quelled fears the euro might collapse by declaring the ECB was prepared to do “whatever it takes” to preserve the currency.

But Greece’s problems won’t be solved by bold rhetoric. If the ECB continues to help Greece after June 30, it will have to risk its most precious asset — credibility.

The ECB has extended Greek banks more than €80 billion in “emergency liquidity assistance” via the Greek Central Bank to compensate for lost deposits. It argues that the banks still have adequate capital buffers and remain eligible for the aid for as long as Greece is in a bailout program and not in default.

Come June 30, Greece is unlikely to meet either of those criteria.

Economists are divided over whether the ECB would sustain its aid to the banks.

“If there’s no prospect for another aid package, I don’t think the ECB will end the emergency liquidity,” said Jörg Krämer, chief economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “It would be the right thing to do, but it’s a deeply political decision that they don’t want to make.”

Still, Greece faces a number of large bond repayments in July. Those bonds are held by the ECB. It would be difficult for the ECB to help Athens if it fails to make the payments. Doing so would amount to using its printing press to fund a defunct state, a clear breach of its charter.

The ECB’s involvement in the Greek rescue is already controversial. Germany’s Bundesbank, in particular, has been critical of Draghi’s course and is almost certain to oppose further assistance beyond June.

Draghi has overcome Bundesbank resistance before, but would have difficulty overriding it on such a fundamental issue. The Bundesbank may have just one vote on the ECB board, but the bank is among Germany’s most trusted institutions. Ignoring its concerns on Greece would risk a public revolt in Germany.