Highlights from Euro leaders on Friday regarding Greece include Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who said he was “certain” there would be problems with Greece in the future, days after a euro zone bailout fund decided to open talks with Greece on a third bailout program.
“It’s not going to be easy. We are certain to encounter problems in the years to come. But I believe we will be able to resolve them,” he said in a statement.
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde reminded European leaders that they may still need to give more help to Greece as German lawmakers paved the way for new aid negotiations to begin.
The agreement to negotiate a bailout program worth as much as 86 billion euros ($94 billion) over three years won’t be enough to keep the euro region together unless Greece’s creditors also lower the country’s debt burden to boost its growth prospects, Lagarde said Friday.
With Greece negotiating the parliamentary obstacles to a third rescue and the euro area ready to release bridge funding to keep the country afloat during talks, Lagarde is turning her focus back to the empty half of the glass. On Monday, she welcomed the deal for averting Greece’s exit from the euro; now she’s pointing out that it won’t work.
Lagarde was asked in an interview on France’s Europe1 radio station whether the accord is viable without the debt restructuring that hardliners like Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are resisting.
Finally, German FinMin Wolfgang Schäuble repeated that the Greek debt is unsustainable, although EU “rule books” don’t allow for a write-down.
According to the Guardian, when faced with “…internal contradictions, he posits that the deal must fail and the poorly led Greeks exit the euro.”