German parliament will discuss Greece deal on Friday, says Schaeuble
Germany's parliament will discuss an 8.5 billion euro bail-out deal agreed with Greece on Friday, Wolfgang Schaeuble said after a meeting with his fellow eurozone finance ministers, insisting that the deal would help restore Greece to competitiveness.
Eurozone finance ministers and the IMF agreed in Luxemburg on Thursday to release a further tranche of funding for Greece. Earlier, Schaeuble had said it was for parliament to decide if the agreement constituted a fundamental change to the bail-out program which would require separate parliamentary approval.
"Greece has to become competitive to get access to debt markets so it can stand on its own two feet," Schaeuble said. "For that Greece has to carry out reforms." Further measures such as debt relief would only be considered after this current program was finished, he added.
"If further measures are necessary at the end of the program we can take them," he said. "The expectation is that the plan will be a success." [Reuters]
