Schaeuble says focus must be on reforms

Greece must press ahead with implementing its reforms-for-aid program and become more competitive, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as saying in an interview published yesterday, adding that debt relief for Athens was “currently” not on the agenda. Eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund reached an agreement on Greece in June, paving the way for new emergency loans for Athens while leaving the contentious issue of debt relief for later. Asked in an interview with the newspaper Mannheimer Morgen if he could envisage a partial cut in debt for Greece, Schaeuble said, “That’s currently not on the agenda at all.” Chancellor Angela Merkel and Schaeuble do not want to discuss any details of debt relief for Greece before federal elections on September 24, in which the far-right euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is forecast to enter parliament for the first time. Starting a discussion about debt relief would send the wrong signal to Athens at a time when the economy was doing better and recovering, Schaeuble told Mannheimer Morgen. “The country doesn’t need a debt cut now, but it must continually work on its competitiveness,” he said. The German finance minister pointed out that Greece’s borrowing costs for the next 10 to 15 years were already relatively low. “Above all, as long as memberstates are responsible for financial and economic policy, they must also bear the consequences of their own deci-