GREECE RECEIVED a stern message over its bloated debt yesterday when Germany and other euro zone countries said it was above all up to Athens to sort the problem out, even if it could count on their backing.
With financial markets fretting over Greece’s ability to service one of Europe’s biggest sovereign debts, the message came from German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble and others at a Eurogroup meeting of euro zone ministers in Brussels.
“We have a new government in Greece. It must cope with a difficult task,” he told reporters on arrival for regular talks where he and counterparts were due to get an update on Greece’s difficulties and its plans for addressing them.
“In tackling it, they are entitled to support but that doesn’t mean that we can spare Greece taking the necessary steps.”
Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos put it even more bluntly.
“We should encourage countries to show they are aware of their own responsibility to get their finances in order. This [responsibility] is primarily for the country itself,” he said. “I think the Greeks are aware of the seriousness of the situation. I can understand why the markets are not convinced yet.”
Asked whether other countries would help Greece, Mr Bos added: “The core of what needs to be done needs to be done by the Greeks themselves.”
Greece’s ballooning budget deficit and debt of more than 120 per cent of GDP have triggered downgrades by debt rating agencies and market speculation about whether the country can service its obligations or might even have to leave the euro zone.
Athens says it plans to reduce its budget deficit this year to 8.7 per cent of gross domestic product from a 2009 figure of 12.7 per cent, and a longer-term stability plan aims to bring the shortfall to 2.8 per cent in 2012, and thus back below the 3 per cent limit of the EU’s stability and growth pact.
Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of last night’s talks in Brussels, did not offer further comment on arrival but has described the idea of Greece leaving the euro zone as unthinkable and qualified Greece’s announcements as a “step in right direction”.
At the meeting ministers are expected to hear back on Greece’s deficit from both Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou and on an information-gathering mission to Athens last week by officials from the European Central Bank and the European Commission.
The ministers were also due to discuss the reliability of Greek statistics after a European Commission report showed Greece had for years misreported budget deficit data because the statistics system was open to political influence. – (Reuters)
