Germany urges Greece to implement reform pledges

The German government said on Friday that Greece shall implement its pledges to reform despite the resignation of its government leader and planned new elections, warning that any delay in implementation would result in a delay in aid payments.

"Of course, the German government, as well as other European partners of Greece, expects the implementation of reforms and the implementation of agreements that are laid out in this (bailout) program," said German government spokesman Steffen Seibert in a press conference in Berlin.

Juerg Weissgerber, a spokesman of German Finance Ministry, told the same press conference that Germany expected the promised reforms to be implemented by the autumn.

"If there was any delay in the review of the program due to the new elections, then this would mean that the next disbursements would also be delayed," he added.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced to resign on Thursday when his country received the first tranche of a fresh aid from its international creditors and one day after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble asked impatient German lawmakers to give Greece another chance for a "new beginning."

Although the third bailout program for Greece was ultimately approved by German parliament after Schaeuble's plea, a record number of members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU union rebelled, posing pressures on Merkel in her future position on the Greek crisis.

Germany was the biggest contributor to the previous two rounds of bailout programs for Greece since 2010. Considering Greece's failure to make sufficient reforms in the past five years, people in Germany doubted whether Greece would actually meet its commitments this time.

A poll result released on Friday showed that 62 percent of Germans opposed the third bailout for Greece. Only 20 percent believed that the new aid would avert a bankruptcy of the country. Endit