By Alex Pigman, AFP
EU–Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned of an alarming lack of progress in talks on Greece’s bailout, as Germany raised the specter of a tumultuous Greek exit from the euro.
Juncker was meeting Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the hard-left Syriza party who came to power in January, on Friday just days after Tsipras renewed a demand that powerful Germany repay debts from its Nazi past.
“I am not satisfied by the developments in the recent weeks,” Juncker said before talks began with Greece’s 40-year-old premier and amid acute concern that Greek coffers could run empty at any moment.
“I don’t think we have made sufficient progress, but we will try to push in the direction of a successful conclusion of the issues we have to deal with.”
Greece won a four-month extension of its EU-IMF bailout in February — despite Tsipras initially saying he wanted to abandon austerity and have a completely new arrangement — but it will not get any of the cash until new reforms are approved by its eurozone partners.
But frustrations with the Greek government are mounting among its 18 fellow eurozone members after Athens renewed its claim to Germany for World War II debts seen as outlandish by its partners.
Greece’s harshest critic, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, warned that with all the time wasted, a disorderly “Grexident” that could accidentally push Athens out of the euro could not be excluded.
“To the extent that Greece is solely responsible and decides what is to happen, and we don’t know exactly what Greek leaders are doing, we can’t exclude it,” Schaeuble told Austrian broadcaster ORF.
A German finance ministry spokeswoman later rowed back on Schaeuble’s comments, stressing that “we do not want Greece to leave.”
‘Verbal violence’
Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem — the Dutch finance minister whose own relations with new Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis have been testy — also criticised the attitude from Athens.
“In Greece, too much blame for Greece’s problems is laid outside Greece and Germany is now the preferred victim,” Dijsselbloem told Dutch state broadcaster NOS.
“There’s a lot of verbal violence. This doesn’t serve any purpose.”
Juncker however insisted after his meeting with Tsipras that failure was not an option, and pleaded for a breakthrough.
“I am totally excluding a failure, I don’t want a failure. I would like Europeans to go together,” the former Luxembourg premier said.
The two agreed that former Latvian premier Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission vice-president for the euro, would lead a “task force” that would deal with Greek officials for further talks.
Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos warned in an interview Saturday that a Greek exit would have a “domino effect” on the eurozone.
“If Greece explodes, then Spain and Italy are next. And, eventually, Germany. That is why we must find a solution within the euro,” he told the German daily Bild.
Rather than a third bailout, he said Greece needed “debt forgiveness” like that offered to a shattered Germany after the war.
Bringing up the issue of World War II reparations, he also argued that “all other European countries had been compensated” except Greece.
