Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble stated on Tuesday that Greece will need a third bailout package if they are to avoid bankruptcy.
Despite the comments from Schäuble, Germany’s finance ministry stated on Wednesday that it was unnecessary to examine Greece’s finances at this point in time, The Wall Street Journal writes. With national elections coming up on September 22, German officials, such as Chancellor Angela Merkel, have sought to avoid this issue until after the second bailout expires in mid-2014.
According to Reuters, Jeorg Amussen, an executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), met with Greece’s finance minister to discuss the country’s progress and whether or not Greece will need any more aid. A Greek finance ministry official told Reuters that any new aid Greece would require for the upcoming year would be a much smaller amount than the previous two bailouts.
Not every Greek is happy about yet another bailout, citing that it will only serve to make Greece a “debt colony,” despite the fact that there have been talks of an eventual debt writedown.
Photo courtesy of Harald Dettenborn, Wikimedia Commons