“The participation of the IMF in the Greek aid program is established in the relevant legal documents” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said responding to a question about whether Berlin believes IMF’s involvement in the third Greek program absolutely necessary.

Berlin continues the confrontation with Athens on IMF’s participation with Seibert arguing that “The participation of the IMF in the Greek aid program is established in the relevant legal documents associated with the ESM program and in the context of the European Union, in the Eurogroup statement in August, which was supported by the IMF and Greece”.

German Finance Ministry spokeswoman asked on whether the statements made yesterday by Wolfgang Schäuble are a threat to Greece she reiterated that “the government’s position is the one recorded in the statement of Eurogroup on August 14, we desire the participation of the IMF in the current program” pointing out that the term “indispensable” is included in the document.

Regarding the consequences of IMF’s decision not to participate in the program, she referred to the schedule and said: “We are now in the first installment of the aid program. We have to accept that not all actions are to be completed until the end of the year so as to begin the evaluation process, but we will do it next year. IMF has made it absolutely clear that it will announce its decision along with its evaluation. I do not want to make any assumptions now, let’s wait. “