It rained denials on the screen of DER SPIEGEL online after a challenging and provocative article claiming that Greece considers to exit the Euro Zone and that it mulls plans for own currency. Greek Finance Ministry denied with an official statement the claims of German weekly DER SPEGIEL that Athens considers to exit the Euro. The ministry statement reads :
“The article on the impending exit of Greece from the Euro Area, besides being untrue, is written in incomprehensible lightness despite repeatedly refuted by the Greek Government and the Governments of the EU member states. Such reports are a provocation, undermine the efforts of Greece and the Euro and serve speculative games.”
According to exclusive information of Greek economic portal Capital.gr EU officials dismissed the SPIEGEL claimsand said that the Eurogroup ministers were involved with the preparation of the bailout rescue package for Portugal and the implementation of the Greek program, for which there are many problems and concerns about the progress of its implementation.
An article in the Wall Street Journalreports that a small group of officials from the Eurozone had planned a meeting late Friday in Luxembourg to discuss plans to rescue Greece and Portugal, and the succession of Jean – Claude Trichet at the helm of the ECB.
“Contrary to what it was mentioned in the online edition of the German Spiegel, the meeting was not scheduled to discuss Greece’s request to leave the eurozone,” the Wall Street Journal writes, citing sources. Furthermore,it notes that the finance ministers of Germany and France, and the head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Junker participated in the Luxembourg meeting. On the agenda is a first round of discussions to extend the aid package of Greece, the succession to the ECB chairmanship and the bailout of Portugal, allegedly said the same sources.
Capital.gr cited bank sources stating “there is no such issue.” A similar statement was reported by Bloomberg citing a representative of Eurogroup head, Jean Claude Juncker. “This information is totally false”.
German government sources told Reuters that “there wasn’t and there is no exit plan”.
Greek analysts commented on the SPIEGEL article saying that Germany is pushing for an urgent solution of the Greek problem.
The comments and denials came after an article on the online version of German weekly DER SPIEGEL. News agency AFP summarizes the SPEIGEL article:
The magazine reported that Greece Greece had raised the possibility of such an exit during recent meetings and that it would bring the subject up again at a meeting in Luxembourg on Friday on the Greek crisis.
Der Spiegel’s article said that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had traveled to Luxembourg for the Eurogroup meeting, which had been planned with an upmost of secrecy.
Der Spiegel’s report also said that Schaeuble’s office had conducted an internal study of the consequences of a Greek withdrawal from the 17-member eurozone, which he brought with him to Luxembourg.
The study concluded that Greece’s new currency would likely depreciate by 50 percent compared to the euro, making a debt restructuring inevitable and provoking capital flight from the country.
You can read the full SPIEGEL Article in ” Athens Mulls Plans for New Currency – Greece Considers Exit from Euro Zone ” in English or in German here
