Germany: Greece will need another bailout

Germany’s finance minister has confirmed Greece will need a third bailout. Wolfgang Schaeuble added that it would not mean another debt write-down but would more likely be in the form of loans or a further reduction of the interest Greece pays on its aid loans. “Previously we had to do something unique with regard to Greece: a debt reduction of more than 50 percent, 53 percent. But this is not a reason for a second (debt reduction). There will have to be another programme in Greece. That has been said a long time ago. This has always been told to the public and the Bundestag,” Schaeuble said. With elections just a month away, mentioning Greece is bad news for Chancellor Angela Merkel who has tried to keep the topic out of her campaign. Merkel’s Social Democrat challenger, Peer Steinbrueck, said that it was time for Merkel to “tell people the truth.” A new party receiving a lot of attention is the ‘Alternative For Germany’. They want to abolish aid to European countries and get rid of the euro. They were founded in February and so far only poll a few percent of votes. However, they reflect a change in German public opinion and could prove to be a thorn in the side for Merkel and her narrow majority. Bernd Lucke, the leader of Alternative For Germany said: “These are ordinary people, ordinary taxpayers who are worried about their economic future due to the massive debt that we take over from other countries and could expose us to insurmountable economic obstacles.” Greece’s European partners and the IMF have so far given 240 billion euros in loans. As Europe’s biggest economy, Germany takes the largest share of the bailouts, which are unpopular with taxpayers.