Schaeuble warns Athens on reforms

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned Greece in a newspaper interview Monday that it must redouble efforts to comply with bailout conditions imposed by international creditors.

“If there were delays, Greece must make up for them,» he told the daily Bild.

He declined to predict whether Greece would remain in the eurozone and said he would wait for new findings from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank — the so-called troika of Greek lenders.

“I will not preempt the troika. When the troika report is ready, the Eurogroup will meet,» he said, referring to eurozone finance ministers.

Schaeuble said he saw few parallels between the plight of Greece and fellow debt-mired country Spain, for which the Eurogroup approved a bank aid package of up to 100 billion euros ($122 billion) on Friday.

“The causes for the crises in both countries are completely different. Spain’s economy is must more competitive and has a different structure. The country will get back on its feet quickly,» he said.

On Wednesday Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras admitted the crisis-hit country still had «some way to go» to finalize 11.5 billion euros in spending cuts demanded by its EU-IMF creditors in return for fresh loans. [AFP] – Ekathimerini.com