Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-04-16

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Debt restructuring is not up for discussion now, German FinMin Schaeuble says

[02] EU Commissioner Katainen urges Greece to focus on reform agenda

[01] Debt restructuring is not up for discussion now, German FinMin Schaeuble says

While some kind of restructuring might be on the agenda in 10 years, "today the issue for Greece is reforming its economy in such a way that it becomes competitive at some point," Schaeuble noted.

Referring to a Die Zeit newspaper report that the German government is working on a plan to keep Greece in the euro area if the country defaulted, he said:

"We don't have such plans, and if we were working on them -- because ministry staff are taking just about everything into consideration -- then we would definitely not talk about it," said Schaeuble. "It makes no sense to speculate about it."

He also said that Greek demands for war reparations from Germany were "completely unrealistic." "This has been ruled on so many times by the international courts that the revival of this discussion can only lead to raising hopes with the Greek people that are completely unrealistic," he stated.

Asked if he planned to meet Varoufakis during his trip in Washington, Schaeuble said that he would "surely" see him the following week in Riga at the Eurogroup meeting on April 24.

"He will meet many people and so will I, but perhaps we'll meet," said Schaeuble. "If we meet, we'll talk, of course. Sure, no problem."

[02] EU Commissioner Katainen urges Greece to focus on reform agenda

Asked whether he believes that an agreement with Greece is possible by next week, the Finnish Commissioner said: "I hope so because the Greek people need new jobs. Nobody will invest in a country where the situation is uncertain. Current problems need to be quickly solved in order to attract investments from the private sector."

In reply to a question whether the Greek government is good at negotiations, bearing in mind the European institutions have denounced the slowness of the procedure, he noted: "I have heard them saying that the progress made is insufficient. I hope that the Greek government will realise that the other member states will not be able to help if Greece does what it has to do. European partners cannot reform the country."

Finally, commenting on a journalist's statement that the Greek government refers to the risk of bankruptcy, that Athens mentions that bankruptcy is possible in May and asked whether the Commission knows the exact financial situation of the country, he said: "Greece is in a very vulnerable and unstable condition. But I believe that no one can say exactly when it will run out of money. Rather than speculate on the date of bankruptcy, I urge the Greek government to focus on the reform agenda."

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