Eurozone ministers: Greek compromise unlikely

Eurozone ministers: Greek compromise unlikely

16 February 2015, 11:42
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Later on Monday, European finance ministers will meet in Brussels amid increasing doubts whether a deal over Greece's debt problems can be reached.

While Greece wants to restructure its debt repayments, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU) say there should be no change to the country's €240bn (£178bn) bailout.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday he was not optimistic a deal would be reached, saying: "From what I've heard about the technical talks over the weekend, I'm very sceptical, but we get a report today and then we'll see."

He said Germany did not want Greece to leave the eurozone, but that the new government had to fulfil "the minimum of the claims". "The problem is that Greece has lived beyond its means for a long time and that nobody wants to give Greece money any more without guarantees," Mr Schaeuble said.

Greece has proposed a new bailout programme that involves a bridging loan to keep the country going for six months and help it repay €7bn (£5.2bn) of maturing bonds.

The second part of the plan would see the county's debt refinanced. Part of this might be through "GDP bonds" - bonds carrying an interest rate linked to economic growth.

Greece also wants to see a reduction in the primary surplus target - the surplus the government must generate (excluding interest payments on debt) - from 3% to 1.49% of GDP.

Last week, two opinion polls conducted in Greece showed that more than three-quarters of Greeks supported Mr Tsipras's hardline stance.

79% of Greeks backed the government's policies and 74% believed its negotiating strategy would succeed, as polls indicated.

In the meantime, on Sunday European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had a phone conversation with Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at his request, an EU official said.

"President Juncker is making a last effort in an extremely difficult situation," the official told. But they played down hopes of an agreement at Monday's meeting.

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