Bild claims mix-up’ behind Schaeuble ‘nein’ to request; Athens denied report

German tabloid asserts that Tsipras-Juncker-Dijsselbloem letter was different than the one eventually conveyed to eurozone

Bild on Friday claimed a ‘mix up’ in the letters sent by Athens to request a loan agreement extension was the reason behind Wolfgang Schaeuble’s surly ‘nein’, something however, the SYRIZA government categorically denied.

The German tabloid asserts that a letter composed by Greek PM Alexis Tsipras with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem was different than the one eventually conveyed by Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis to eurozone counterparts. Regardless, the request sent this week on behalf of the government by Varoufakis was summarily rejected by the German FinMin.
“Wrong letter to Brussels on Thursday” was the headline circulated by the German news agency MNI, which quoted Bild.

According to the unconfirmed report, Varoufakis sent a modified draft of the Tsipras-Juncker-Dijsselbloem request, sans the clause stating that Greece accepts the conditions of the bailout package agreed to by the previous Greek government. Bild has Alexis Tsipras even referring to an “administrative mistake” afterwards.

The claim was also picked up and reproduced by Bloomberg.

Nevertheless, Tsipras’ Maximos Mansion office dismissed the “wrong letter” report as fiction.