by MICAH DAKOLO, DispatchTimes
A top ECB official said in a report that the European Central Bank wants Greece to remain in the euro, as Greek officials prepare to resume talks with the country’s creditors on averting a debt default.
The ECB’s chief economist Peter Praet said concerning Greece’s membership of the currency bloc, that the Governing Council of the ECB wants Greece to remain a member of the euro.
The Governing Council sets policy at the bank.
Praet in a report stressed the need for trust between countries that embark on reforms and those which give them financial backing.
He said that when a country agrees to do something, it has to implement the agreement. The more credible a country is, the more patient creditors can be and the more trust they can show.
He also said that if a government is trusted, it doesn’t mean so much if an agreed figure is not reached exactly in a year. The problem is that if you lose this confidence, the situation becomes messy and creditors then immediately press for results.”
Greek officials and the country’s creditors were due to resume talks in Brussels on Saturday on a cash-for-reforms deal Athens needs to clinch by an end-June deadline to avoid a default and possible exit from the euro zone.