Brussels, 14/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - Greece's international lenders are split over how to approach the country, which has been unable to reach agreement on a government that backs the austerity measures agreed upon as part of the country's second bailout package. On the one hand, the European Commission and Germany refuse to consider making any changes to the bailout package and have not ruled out Greece's having to leave the euro. This is a way of applying the utmost pressure to encourage Greeks to agree on a government so they can remain in the eurozone (which most of the population want to do anyway). On the other hand, the head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, said at the weekend that he was in favour of giving Greece more time to make the necessary spending cuts and introduce reforms.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said on Monday 14 May as he arrived at the Eurogroup meeting that everything that could be done to help Greece had been done and the problem was not one of lack of generosity on the part of its lenders. A few days ago, he said that the eurozone was now better prepared for Greece's leaving the eurozone, if it came to that, but on Monday he said that Greece leaving would be “terrible”. Meanwhile, a German government spokesperson said that Germany was sticking to the Greek bailout programme's planned content, aims and timeline.
On Sky TV in Italy at the weekend, José Manuel Barroso spoke for the first time of the possibility of Greece leaving the eurozone. He said that if a member of a club didn't respect the rules (not mentioning any names), then it is best for that member to leave the club. Commission President Barroso met Juncker and ECB President Mario Draghi on Monday. A Barroso spokesperson said that the Commission still thought that Greece's remaining in the eurozone was the best solution for both Greece and Europe, but there was nothing in the treaties about countries leaving the euro. The future, said the spokesperson, is in the hands of Greek, which had to deal with the crisis. Asked about potential cooperation with Athens, the spokesperson said that the Commission had recently published a report setting out a range of measures it was prepared to implement. (MB/transl.fl)