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France not to offer Greece write-off of Greece's debt

Xinhua, February 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

France would not offer Greece a write-off of its debt, indicated Sunday French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, adding that the French government "would like to discuss ways to reduce the weight of this debt and the reimbursement of this debt".

Sapin made the remarks during a press conference held after meeting with his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis who is on his European tour to find support to ease the burden of Greece' debt, 315 billion euros (about 356 billion U.S. dollars), or about 175 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

"We can discuss, we can delay, we can reduce, but we won't annul (Greece'd debt)," Sapin said, reiterating that "there is no question of annulling Greece's debt."

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis expressed Sunday night his hope that a comprehensive agreement on the financial situation in Greece would be reached by the "end of May ".

"Until then, we will not ask for new loans" to creditors of Greece, he said.

Heading to London and Rome after Paris, the Greek finance minister expressed his wish to soon visit Berlin and Frankfurt in order to explain the position of Greece on the repayment of its debt.

"We need a little time to explain the government's position to the different partners," he said, wishing to have "until the end of this month (February) to lay on our table the detailed proposals." Endit