| Greek’s euro zone exit manageable, says Juncker |
BERLIN Euro zone finance ministers’ group chief Jean-Claude Juncker has said a Greek exit from the euro zone would be “manageable” but not “desirable”, according to an interview published on Tuesday.
“The way things look now, it would be a manageable process,” he told Germany’s WDR public broadcaster, according to a transcript on the government website of Luxembourg, where Juncker is prime minister. “That’s not to say it would be a desirable occurrence because it would be linked to considerable risks, above all for the average person in Greece.”
Asked whether Greece could, in theory, drop out of the 17-nation single currency bloc in two days’ time, Juncker denied that would happen, adding: “In any case not before the end of autumn, and not even then.”
Greece has fallen behind in the implementation of structural reforms that are part of the EU-IMF bailout packages which are keeping its economy afloat.
Back-to-back elections in May and June resulted in a two-month political deadlock that got the country’s reform programme off track, amid mounting international pressure.
German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler in July voiced doubts about whether Greece would be able to stay in the euro zone, saying the “horror” of a potential exit had worn off.
Agencies
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