Juncker: Euro members may need to aid Greece more
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — Euro-zone members may have to waive part of Greece’s debt as private investors prepare to take a hit on their holdings of Greek bonds, Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of euro-zone finance ministers, said in a newspaper interview published Friday. If Greece is shown to be able to get its debt load on a sustainable footing and reaches an agreement with the private sector on haircuts, “then the public sector will have to ask if it cannot provide assistance,” he said, in an interview with Austria’s Der Standard. Juncker had no comment on calls for the European Central Bank, which holds an estimated 40 billion euros or more of Greek debt, to also accept write-downs. “The central bank is independent, and it is not appropriate for the president of the euro group to make recommendations to the monetary authorities,” he said.
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