German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday that he supports Greece’s new bailout program and he will urge his fellow lawmakers to vote in favor on Wednesday’s Bundestag ballot.
Schaeuble, who has previously been skeptical over Greece’s willingness to implement the reforms required for the loan package, now says that the Greek government has made a dramatic change and is ready to implement them. He said that the loan terms offered to Greece are “very generous.”
The German finance minister has also made a dramatic change himself, taking into consideration his suggestion last month that Greece may need some “time out” from the Eurozone.
The German finance minister also said that he is confident the International Monetary Fund will participate in Greece’s bailout program. A similar conviction was also expressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday. Schaeuble and Merkel will try to convince German MPs to support further financial aid to the debt-ridden country.
“I can argue with full conviction, partly because I haven’t taken this decision lightly myself … that the right thing to do is to vote for this,” Schaeuble said on German public broadcaster ZDF.
“I am very sure that we will come to a common assessment and I am also sure that the IMF, whose role we have described as indispensable, will take part in this program,” he added.
Schaeuble did not rule out the danger of a Grexit if Greece does not follow through with the required reforms. “If Greece does everything that we have agreed, then this program is designed over the next three years to bring Greece back onto a sustainable path. Greece should then be able to fund itself in the financial markets without guarantees from the European rescue fund,” he said.
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