Germany rejects possibility of debt forgiveness for Greece

(Baonghean) - On Saturday, January 31, in a press interview, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the possibility of "new debt forgiveness" for Greece as previously proposed by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“Many private creditors and banks have already written off billions of Greek loans,” Angela Merkel said in an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt on Saturday. “There is no need to write off new debts,” Merkel said. “Europe will continue to show solidarity with Greece, as it does with all the countries particularly affected by the crisis, if they implement reforms and adopt austerity measures.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Francois Hollande and President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz on January 30. Photo: AFP/Christian Lutz.

Asked about the first announcements that Greek Prime Minister Tsipras made shortly after taking office about raising the minimum wage and hiring more workers, Chancellor Merkel stressed that “Germany and other European partners are looking forward to the ideas that the new Greek government has to offer us.”

In early 2012, Greece conducted debt “exchanges” with private creditors, which helped Greece erase about 100 billion euros of debt. However, despite erasing nearly 100 billion euros of debt, Greece is still “struggling” under the weight of its debts. According to calculations, the country’s current debt is about 175% of GDP.

The key for the Greek government now, according to George Stathakis, an international economist, is to renegotiate its debts with its creditors. It seems that Prime Minister Tsipras is starting to do that, scheduling a visit to Italy and France on Tuesday and Wednesday. And obviously the purpose of the visit is to renegotiate Greece's huge debts.

However, Prime Minister Tsipras is not very happy when European leaders, especially Germany, constantly remind Greece to fulfill its commitments. Perhaps for this reason, until now, Prime Minister Tsipras has not planned a visit to Berlin.

Previously, on January 30, Mr. Yanis Varoufakis - the new Finance Minister of Greece also made a statement that Greece is ready to dialogue with Europe, but not with the Troika group (including the EU, ECB and IMF). Mr. Varoufakis called the Troika "a tripartite delegation built on an unsustainable foundation".

Chu Thanh

(According to Liberation 31/1)