Brussels, 06/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 5 April, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, reiterated her country's position that the IMF should be involved in the third Greek bailout plan.
“The German position is that the IMF is taking part in an agreement”, the German leader said, following a meeting in Berlin with the heads of international organisations including the IMF.
This declaration comes shortly after negotiations resumed between Athens and its institutional creditors in the framework of the first monitoring mission of the third Greek bailout plan, which has been overshadowed by leaks of internal IMF conversations, leading to outrage on both sides of the negotiating table (see EUROPE 11524).
Central to the discussions is the question of a further haircut for the Greek debt, for which the Greek government is pushing hard. A haircut would have an impact on the budgetary efforts Athens has to make, reducing them. The Eurogroup has agreed to reopen the question of the Greek debt in the framework of the first monitoring mission. Even the Eurozone countries are continuing to refuse to cross the red line constituted by a haircut on the principle of the debt securities they hold, for instance by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). “It's not a demand of the federal government to have no debt haircut, but rather in our opinion, this is legally not possible”, Merkel stressed, referring to the European treaty prohibiting any indirect financing of a state.
The Greek government hopes that the negotiations will conclude on Friday 22 April, when the Eurogroup is set to meet in Amsterdam. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)