Greece’s exit from eurozone to be failure for all — Luxembourg premier

The heads of state and
gov
ernments of the eurozone’s 19
member states are discussing the
ways of preventing Greece’s default
at an extraordinary summit
Greece’s
exit from the eurozone will become a
failure for all, Luxembourg Prime
Minister Xavier Bettel said upon his
arrival at an extraordinary summit of
euro area leaders on Monday.
"A compromise is needed from all the
sides because Greece’s withdrawal
would be a failure for all," the premier
said.
The eurozone leaders have gathered
to hear and understand what Greece
wants. It is necessary to act quickly
because much time has been lost, the
Luxembourg premier said.
The heads of state and governments of
the eurozone’s 19 member states are
discussing the ways of preventing
Greece’s default.
Since 2010, when Greece’s sovereign
debt crisis broke out, Athens has
received €240 billion in two tranches
of bailout loans from the EU and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Despite a partial debt write-off in
2012, Greece’s sovereign debt
currently exceeds €315 billion or
175% of its GDP. This figure is almost
three times the debt-to-GDP ratio set
for the eurozone countries, which
should not exceed 60% of GDO
according to the EU’s Stability and
Growth Pact.
Greece is scheduled to repay a €1.6
billion loan to the IMF on June 30,
which is just interest payment at a
reduced rate. Athens has no money to
repay the loan. Greece may rescue
the situation by resorting to the €7.2
billion loan intended for Greece as part
of the second international macro-
finance assistance program.
However, creditors are firmly
determined to unlock this sum only
against Greece’s clearly expressed
obligation to introduce further
austerity measures in the country.
Progress at the eurozone talks on
Greece’s structural reforms and the aid
program for the debt-laden Hellenic
Republic may be reached this week
but not at an extraordinary summit of
the euro area leaders on Monday,
Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said.
"Today we’ll only discuss and consider
the situation again. I hope we’ll be
able to move forward on Thursday or
Friday [on this issue]," Television
Channel Yle quoted the Finnish
premier as saying.
Finish Finance Minister Alexander
Stubb said earlier on Monday the
Greek debt talks might last many days
as Greece’s new proposals received
last night had not yet been considered
by the EU institutions.
The summit of the eurozone leaders
and the heads of European institutions
convened on Monday is expected to
reach compromise on the program of
structural reforms for Greece, which is required to ensure a sufficient budget surplus to guarantee its ability to repay outstanding loans.