EUROZONE-GREECE/REGLING ESM's Regling says Greek debt relief possible, but no haircut, threat of Grexit remains

Record ID: 142272

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/REGLING ESM's Regling says Greek debt relief possible, but no haircut, threat of Grexit remains
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM (ESM) KLAUS REGLING ARRIVING CAMERAS REGLING SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM (ESM), KLAUS REGLING, SAYING: "For the discussions on further debt relief in the autumn, I can see the following possibilities: what can be discussed are extending loan maturities, further suspensions in interest payments and further transfers of profit which the euro central banks made as a result of buying up Greek government bonds. A debt haircut will not be on the table." PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM (ESM), KLAUS REGLING, SAYING: "Of course elections always lead to a moment of insecurity, nobody knows what the election results will be, but altogether we can be confident because we already had a very large majority in the Greek parliament for the programme, more than 80 percent. We don't know the composition of the new parliament, but these elections should and probably will lead to a stabilisation of the situation." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM (ESM), KLAUS REGLING, SAYING: "The programme has been agreed with the country of Greece, independently from the government. The country is bound but I can also see in the future more support for the programme in the parliament than there has been so far." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM (ESM), KLAUS REGLING, SAYING: "The International Monetary Fund was fully involved in the negotiations on the programme in Athens together with the EU Commission, the ECB and the ESM. Moreover the IMF boss Christine Lagarde said that she expects a financial participation of the IMF in the programme. The condition for this, in the IMF's view, is that the Greek debts are seen as stable." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM (ESM), KLAUS REGLING, SAYING ON THE POSSIBILITY OF A "GREXIT": "This threat as a possibility must always be there and is still there because otherwise everything else would not be credible. We have continued to experienced payments being delayed until there is another agreement. So there is no conflict. The risks were big, the possibility of a Grexit was however also there." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAFP9O94MUUIBL0JIE5QUMYDD1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The head of the European Stability Mechanism said on Thursday (August 27) that the options for easing Greece's debt burden included extending loan maturities, suspending interest payments and transferring central bank profits but ruled out a debt "haircut".
    Klaus Regling told a news conference in Berlin that a looming election in Greece increased uncertainty but he was confident Athens would implement agreed reforms.
    "Of course elections always lead to insecurity, nobody knows what the election results will be, but altogether we can be confident because already had a very large majority in the Greek parliament for the programme, more than 80 percent. We don't know the composition of the new parliament, but these elections should and probably will lead to a stabilisation of the situation," Regling said.
    He added that a Greek exit from the eurozone was a possibility and remains a threat if Athens does not fulfill the conditions of its third bailout agreement.
    "This threat as a possibility must always be there and is still there," he said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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