–Stark Still Opposes Greek Debt Restructuring: Press
–Trichet: Don’t Have A Crisis Of The Euro: Press
–EU Commission, IMF Favor ‘Soft’ Debt Restructuring: Press
–Schaeuble: Need Additional Measures If Greece Can’t Tap Mkts Next Yr
–Schaeuble Hints Private Investors Need To Share Efforts To Aid Greece

BERLIN (MNI) – Greece needs to step up its fiscal consolidation
efforts in order to qualify for the next tranche of EU-IMF financial
aid, European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark said,
according to a pre-release of a newspaper interview to be published
Monday.

“It is obvious that the country must intensify its consolidation
efforts in order to meet the conditions for the payout of the next
financial tranche,” Stark told German regional daily Der Tagesspiegel.

The ECB board member again rejected the idea of restructuring the
maturities of Greek debt or forcing investors to take a “hair cut” — a
write-down on a part of the value of their Greek debt, arguing either of
these approaches wouldn’t help solve the structural problems of the
country. Moreover, a debt restructuring would hit Greek banks hard, he
warned in the interview.

The sovereign debt crisis in Greece, Portugal and Ireland has not
hurt the euro up to now, Stark argued. “No one should be worried about
the value of the currency,” he told the paper. “The euro is a highly
regarded currency internationally.”

Separately, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet wrote in an op-ed
piece for German weekly Bild am Sonntag (BamS) published Sunday that
“there exists no crisis of the euro.”

“What we’re currently witnessing in some countries of the Eurozone
is primarily a debt crisis of public budgets,” he wrote.

He reaffirmed that “the people in Europe can trust the European
Central Bank to assure price stability in the future in the same way as
in the past twelve years.”

Meanwhile, German weekly Welt am Sonntag (WamS) reported on Sunday
that the EU Commission and the International Monetary Fund want a “soft”
restructuring of Greek debt. They favor an extension of the maturities
of Greek bonds, the paper wrote without citing sources. The ECB and
France oppose a haircut for Greek debt, WamS reported.

The EU Commission expects Greece’s public debt to rise to 157.7% of
GDP by the end of this year and to 166.1% by the end of next year, WamS
reporting, citing the EU Commission’s spring economic survey.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, in a television
interview aired Sunday, called the newspaper report on a possible Greek
debt restructuring “speculation.”

However, if the next report by the EU Commission, the ECB and the
IMF on Greece due in June shows that the country won’t be able to fund
itself via borrowing from financial markets again next year, “then
additional measures must be discussed,” Schaeuble told German ARD public
television.

Moreover, it is “a central point” that private investors must not
be relieved of their financial burden at the expense of taxpayers, he
stressed.

Thus, if the maturities of Greek bond held by public institutions
are to be extended then this must also apply to those bonds held by
private investors, he indicated in the interview: “If there is a
lengthening of [maturities] then it must be extended to everyone.”

Efforts to get the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone under
control won’t be derailed by the arrest of IMF Managing Director
Dominique Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault charges in New York on Sunday,
Schaeuble argued. “The IMF is fully able to function,” he told ARD
television.

The IMF will send a deputy of Strauss-Kahn to tomorrow’s meeting of
Eurogroup finance ministers, where financial aid for Portugal is
expected to be decided, the minister said.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

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