EU’s Juncker wants to scrap troika’s mission to Greece, Handelsblatt says
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker wants to scrap the troika mission from international lenders that governs Greece’s 320 billion euros ($360 billion) bailout, German daily Handelsblatt reported, quoting unnamed Commission sources.
“We have to find an alternative quickly,” it quoted the sources as saying, in an extract from an article released ahead of publication on Monday.
Berlin was also prepared to reform arrangements between the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Athens, seen by its new government as “insulting” to Greek sovereignty, and establish more general economic targets, the paper quoted unnamed German government sources as saying.
However, this would only be possible if Greece accepted the need to stick to previously agreed reform and savings targets, the business newspaper said.
The new left-wing government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said it wants to end the bailout deal and will not cooperate with troika inspectors in Athens.
It says it wants to negotiate directly with European authorities and the IMF over a new accord that will allow a reduction in its debt, which is equivalent to more than 175 percent of its gross domestic product.
Juncker, who is due to meet Tsipras in Brussels on Wednesday, has said he was not prepared to accept any direct write-off of Greece’s public debt.
[Reuters]
