Hardly has the Greek government passed through the Parliament the new package of tough austerity 4.9 billion euros with the hope to finally get a debt relief, and Germany set out again to kill the disturbing Greek fly.
There will be neither debt relief nor extension of debt repayment is the message Berlin sent to Athens outlining at the same time the agenda of the Eurogroup on upcoming Monday.
A spokesman from the Federal Finance Ministry of Wolfgang Schaeuble told Bild Zeitung
- Germany will not accept any reduction in the Greek debt, nor an extension of repayment time nor a takeover of the IMF loans by the ESM.“There are no such or other plans to alleviate the Greek debt,” Schaeuble’s spokesman said.
Schaeuble has been insisting all the time that no matter what the Greeks do there cannot be debt relief discussion before the current Greek program conclude sin summer 2018. Extension of loan maturities? Debt restructuring? The ESM taking over Greece’s loans to the IMF? Schaeuble’s comment was always a clear and simple NEIN.
On Friday, Schaeuble said the eurozone finance ministers will examine in detail what the Greek government has voted on, but adding “we can not prejudge the outcome of a comprehensive agreement.”
The new austerity package of Thursday was the result of the so-called Staff Level Agreement between Greece and representatives of European creditors and the International Monetary Fund.
Greece will need the 7 billion euro bailout tranche by July to repay loans to creditors and keep a 10% for its own needs to pay suppliers, wages and pensions.
Right after the adoption of the new austerity package on Thursday night, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that Greece has fulfill its commitments and now the ball was in creditors’ court. He urged them to proceed with decisions in the direction of the debt relief.
Earlier he had threatened that the government may pass the austerity measures but will not implement them if no debt relief measures.
PS Do you remember Citizen Kane’s last word Rosebud while on his dying bed? Schaeuble’s last word will be Nein. How predictable….
it is a shame that along with the redesign, the blog has become a much more sterile environment.
despite their sometimes silliness, they were often the most interesting part of ‘keep talking’!
it seems like the ‘talking’ has ended…
ehm?
Nein, nein, nein, nein!
I love the new design 🙂
Wolfgang Schaeuble is the Finance Minister of Germany –
The German economy is a basket case !
With such a stickler for financial correctness & efficiency as himself at the helm of the Germany economy – how could this be ?
if my meaning wasn’t clear, i find the fact that people do not leave comments on the stories that you are posting sad…it was one the the main motivations to follow the site, and what made it different from other mainstream sites like πρώτο θέμα.
no disrepect…
I can understand KTG reluctance to let people “talk” on the blog. Over the past year, the “talking”, such as it was, rapidly degenerated into a succession of ad hominem insults and attacks; accusations hurled back and forth; and the same tired cliches repeated ad nauseam by the same 2-3 posters on any and every topic. I understand the frustration of people such as yourself who would like a forum where they can express their views, and read other people’s opinions, on the appalling situation in Greece. But if people can’t exert a modicum of restraint on themselves, I really don’t see why someone else must spend their time and their resources moderating those who refuse to moderate themselves. My two cents.
Amen
and a short notice:
1. some people here mis-percepted the blog/website with a forum -which is not
2. in last weeks/months. i.. after the new ‘talking’ moderation guidelines were set, only one comment was not allowed as it was contain a very vulgar insult against ktg.
i agree in spirit with the both of you.
i merely was ‘looking in’ from the outside and remarking that there are no almost NO posts being made…which in turn makes the entire feel of ktg a bit more mainstream feeling…
it’s not my blog and not my business, so i’ll leave it here!
here are comments. depending on the frequency of your visits you can see them – or not.
One comment not alowed!?
I myself have had 3 comments
deleted.
Soo, you are not just totaly unproductive,
you are liars too.
Maybe thats why northern europeans
despise you clowns so utterly..?
I don’t see any comments of yours in the ‘trash’ section.