Chancellor Merkel: We must cooperate with Greece, otherwise chaos could ensue

No nominal debt write-off is possible

German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out once again a nominal write off of Greek debt talking on German TV station ARD. The Chancellor said that Germany would negotiate hard with Greece to ensure that the country implements all the necessary agreements that should be honored. On the matter of a debt hair-cut she stressed that ways of extending the payment period or decreasing interest rates could be examined, but said that a classical write-off could only be possible out of the Eurozone. She warmed that the situation would be chaotic if common ground could not be found between Greece and its partners. Finally she denied that Finance Minister Wolfgang Schuable had ever asked her to be relieved of his duties.