BERLIN: Germany wants Greece to stay in the eurozone, a finance ministry spokesman said, after talks between Greece and its European creditors collapsed over the weekend, raising fears of a debt default and the country’s possible exit from the currency bloc.
The German finance ministry is working towards achieving a deal on Greece’s bailout program at Thursday’s meeting of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, a spokesman said.
We are working towards an agreement, with all the powers we have available,” Martin Jaeger told reporters. He cautioned however that “time is getting short.”
Mr Jaeger underscored the German government’s position that it wants Greece to stay in the eurozone. He said it’s up to Greece to present an adequate package of measures for fiscal reform to its creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Mr Jaeger’s remarks come after talks between Greece and the European Commission aimed at mending Greece’s €245 billion ($US275 billion) international bailout collapsed over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said time is running out for Greece to reach a deal with its creditors.
The probability of a failure is rising by the day, and it is hardly possible to follow the “different twists and turns” in the talks, Mr Weidmann said at a conference in Frankfurt.
