BERLIN (MNI) – Germany will have to accept financial losses from
its participation in the rescue measures for Greece, a senior lawmaker
from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU-FDP government coalition said in
a newspaper interview published Tuesday.
“It is clear that we cannot only give loans and guarantees but that
we also have to pay real money,” FDP parliamentary leader Rainer
Bruederle told the German daily Bild.
“We do this because we believe it would be much more expensive if
we abandoned Greece,” explained Bruederle, a former economics minister.
In a newspaper interview published Sunday, Merkel did not rule out
a haircut on Greek debt held by the public sector after 2015. However, a
government spokesman on Monday denied that Merkel had meant to signal
the possibility of such a debt haircut after 2015.
Merkel was asked by the weekly Bild am Sonntag if a debt haircut
could come after German elections next autumn. “If Greece one day gets
along with its revenue without making new debt, then we have to look at
the situation and assess it,” she replied.
“If everything goes as planned, this won’t be the case before
2014/15,” the chancellor said.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@mni-news.com
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