BERLIN (MNI) – Germany wants Greece to stay in the Eurozone but
sees the need for Athens to step up reform efforts, Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a television interview to be aired next
Tuesday.
“We want Greece to be able to remain in the Eurozone,” Schaeuble
told ZDF public television. “But Greece has a lot to do. That has not
been decided yet.”
The minister said he doubted Greece had met all of its obligations
under the fiscal consolidation and reform program agreed under the
EU-IMF bailout program. “These doubts have to be cleared up,” he said.
Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter said earlier this week
that Germany expected Greece would not meet the fiscal consolidation
goals agreed with the EU and the IMF. Any changes to the Greek program
have to be approved by the German Bundestag, the lower house of
parliament, he said.
A senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right
CDU/CSU-FDP government coalition said in a newspaper interview published
Friday that Greece might get more time to meet its goals.
“We might be willing to discuss a modest delay for achieving the
deficit goals,” FDP parliamentary leader Rainer Bruederle told the
regional daily Rheinische Post.
A Finance Ministry spokeswoman said earlier today that talks
between Greece and the troika of the European Commission, the ECB and
the IMF have not been completed yet.
“According to our knowledge the talks are still underway,” ministry
spokeswoman Silke Bruns said at a regular press conference here. Thus,
it was still not clear if Eurozone finance ministers will be able make
any decisions regarding further aid for Greece at their next Eurogroup
meeting on November 12, she said.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@mni-news.com
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