BERLIN (MNI) – The German government on Friday stressed that it
wanted to keep Greece in the Eurozone and urged the people to stick to
the agreed consolidation and reform path.
“Right from the beginning it was the goal of the [German] federal
government to stabilize Greece inside the Eurozone,” spokesman Steffen
Seibert said at a regular press conference here. “In our view, this goal
has not changed.”
Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus said at the same press
conference, “We’re making every effort to keep Greece in the Eurozone;
in the end it is up to the Greeks to implement” the reform program.
Kotthaus noted that a second tranche of aid payments for Greece of
around E4 billion foreseen for end-June requires a new mission to Greece
by the so-called troika of the European Commission, the European Central
Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Seibert announced that Merkel would meet newly elected French
president Francois Hollande next Tuesday in Berlin. “Naturally, this is
not a decision meeting but only a meeting to get to know each other,” he
said. The two leaders are to discuss their opposed positions on the EU
fiscal compact and growth-enhancing measures. A joint press conference
is scheduled for 17:45 GMT that day.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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