German government: “We respect the choice” – Daily News

     
     
     
     
     
 
 
     
 

     Published today, 13:20
     
 

 
     

         
 

     
     
 

 
     

     
     
     
     

         

                     

Berlin. The German government’s reaction to the Greek referendum was brief.

 

– We respect elections and notes that for the moment there are no conditions for new negotiations.

                     
                 

         
 
         
         

             
                 
                 
                 

                     

 

The German government’s reaction to the Greek referendum was brief.

 

– We respect elections and notes that for the moment there are no conditions for new negotiations.

Every Monday emerges spokesmen of all the ministries at a joint press conference and answer journalists’ issues.

Today was this news conference on one thing – the Greek referendum.

 
        
             

     
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The government spokesman and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert stated that for the moment there are no conditions for new negotiations. The verdict in the referendum was a clear no to the principle that all the solidarity and assistance requiring offsets from the receiver.

– It is based on the principle we the last five years in many cases successfully tackled the debt problem, said Seibert, referring to earlier support programs for Ireland and Portugal.

He continued:

– With the referendum, we have gained clarity in the Greek position and we are now waiting for what the Greek government will propose. The door for talks is always open.

When asked how rush it, Seibert said that the German Government would have liked to have been agreed early this spring.

-In today it is the Greek Government, which must assess the urgency because you know the conditions in their own country.

A possible new aid program for Greece can only come from the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) and is a treaty that closely statutes the conditions under which a country can get help.

– And any help is conditional, added the Ministry of Finance spokesman Martin Jäger.

The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said that extensive debt relief is a must, a requirement that Martin Jäger rejected.

– Debt cancellation was an issue that was never discussed in the negotiations that were interrupted on June 27, he said.

Jäger did not agree with that German credit would go up in smoke if it came to a so-called Grexit, that Greece leaves the euro.

Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advocates debt cancellation. Martin Jäger noted that depreciation is included in the IMF’s “tool box”, but that the Europeans prefer to go other ways without mentioning exactly which.

An option that previously practiced when it comes to the huge Greek debt (more than 300 billion euros ) is to extend maturities and lower interest rates.