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France, Germany want to keep Greece in the euro amid bailout dispute

Xinhua, February 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday ruled out a scenario envisaging a Greek exit from the single-currency bloc, but urged Athens to respect its financial commitments.

"France's position is that everything is done for...greater cohesion of the euro area. I do not know today that there is a scenario envisaging Greek exit from the eurozone," said Hollande.

"Greece must meet its commitments and at the same time the Greek vote (which brought the anti-austerity party to power) must be heard," he added.

In a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Hollande pushed for a deal to fix Greece's debt trouble.

The visiting German Chancellor, for her part, noted that all member states of the European Union wanted to keep Greece in the eurozone.

"For this, Greece has made significant sacrifices. The situation is difficult, for example in the labor market, but we begin to see some results and therefore we intend to continue this policy," Merkel told reporters here.

However, the German leader called for "significant improvements," in Athens reforms commitments.

In an emergency meeting, the 19-nation Eurogroup, made up of finance ministers in the eurozone, met in Brussels earlier on Friday to bridge an agreement between Greece, which is seeking a new accord on its debt, and European creditors which want a more stable guarantee that Athens will fulfill the strict conditions in its bailout.

Five years ago, Athens received a 240-billion-euro rescue package (about 274 billion U.S. dollars) under Europe's bailout program to meet its financing needs. If the Mediterranean country were to fail to renew it, Greece, whose debt exceeds 320 billion euros, or 175 percent of its GDP, risks a default and exit from the eurozone. Enditem