BEIJING (MNI) – Some northern Eurozone member states are seriously
contemplating whether it is better to allow Greece to default on its
debts, giving growing scepticism whether that nation can ever live up to
the conditions for an official financial bailout, according to a report
in Wednesday’s Financial Times.

As reported, Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker called off the
emergency meeting of finance ministers scheduled for Tuesday to discuss
the E130 billion bailout, because more “technical work” was needed
between the Greek government and the troika of official creditors (the
European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary
Fund). Rather, officials will hold a conference call later today,
Juncker said.

But Juncker indicated that troika’s concerns were extensive and
raised questions yet again whether Greece had done enough to secure the
second bailout.

“It has appeared that further technical work between Greece and the
troika is needed in a number of areas, including the closure of the
fiscal gap of E325 million in 2012 and the debt sustainability
analysis,” Juncker said in a press release.

Some officials in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland are
increasingly of the mind that Greece will never be able to meet the
conditions and so the bailout would be throwing good money after bad.
These officials are suggesting that a default would be the least bad
solution to the Greek problem, according to the FT.

“We are getting closer to default,” a senior eurozone official told
the FT. “Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are losing patience.”

“People are really, really contemplating and wondering whether
giving the people in Greece (additional funds) is the right thing to do
if they can’t implement the programme,” another senior eurozone official
told the FT.

In his statement Tuesday, Juncker himself pointed to a key
component of the problem: that he had not yet received the “required
political assurances” from the leaders of Greece’s coalition parties
that they will support the implementation of the bailout program.

This refers to the presumed next prime minister of Greece, Antonis
Samaras, head of the centre-right New Democracy party, who has only
reluctantly endorsed the legislation needed to meet official creditors’
demands and has said he would seek to renegotiate the deal after he is
elected this spring.

Some officials from the hardline northern states believe that the
EU can contain the negative market and economic impact of a default,
given the strengthening of the eurozone’s financial firewalls in recent
months. In addition, some believe financial markets have already priced
in a default, which would limit the financial downside.

Some E14.5 billion in Greek government bonds mature in mid-March
and the nation cannot afford to roll them over without the bailout.

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