Chancellor Merkel has ruled out cancelling any of Greece’s debt, saying banks and creditors have already made substantial cuts, but she has also told the Hamburger Abendblatt and Die Welt newspapers today she still wants Greece to stay in the Eurozone.
I do not envisage fresh debt cancellation
There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece’s debt
The aim of our policy was and is that Greece remains permanently part of the euro community. Europe will continue to show its solidarity with Greece, as with other countries hard hit by the crisis, if these countries carry out reforms and cost-saving measures.
Greece’s new finance minister said the IMF/ECB/EU Troika overseeing Greek debt was a “rotten committee” and yesterday made it clear that they will not welcome them back
Previous gestures from Merkel had the ball in Greece’s court but these latest comments suggest her patience has grown thin to say the least
The BBC has more here
Reuters has this
Merkel – knows where to point the finger of blame