German Government Parties Want Private Sector To Participate In Greek Aid
BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- Germany's governing CDU and FDP parties parties are working on a motion to bring into parliament demanding substantial private sector involvement in any new Greek aid package.
The parties' motion will likely also ask for some kind of restructuring of Greece's debt, at least on a voluntary basis.
While the motion won't be binding for the government, it could still put pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel to demand tougher conditions for future rescue efforts for troubled euro zone members--making German demands for private lender participation more likely.
Adding to doubts over a fresh Greek aid package, Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said Tuesday that the Netherlands hasn't yet decided if it will give Greece more support beyond the EUR110 billion package it received last year.
He said it would partly depend on the involvement of the private sector.
The parliamentary group of Merkel's Christian Democrats, or CDU, will meet Wednesday evening to discuss the motion, according to Joachim Pfeiffer, the party's speaker for economic policy.
Pfeiffer also said that he still didn't know the motion's exact content.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is scheduled to brief lawmakers on a review of Greece's current austerity program carried out be the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission.
Christian Lindner, the secretary general of the Free Democratic Party, or FDP, in an interview to the Schwaebische Zeitung said the motion aims at pinning down the government on a negotiation line on further euro zone aid.
"We want a participation of private lenders in the overhaul [of Greek finances]. It would be in the interest of the financial sector of Greece and other overly indebted countries, if there were to be a restructuring on a voluntary basis," Lindner said.
Any motion passed by the CDU and FDP won't be binding for the German government, FDP lawmaker Frank Schaeffler told Dow Jones Newswires.
As a fresh Greek aid package is likely to come from the euro zone's current rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, decisions can be made by euro zone leaders without the need for an explicit approval from national parliaments.
A government approval for more aid against the will of parliament would, however, increase an already existing distrust, Schaeffler added.
The FDP lawmaker is lobbying among parliamentarians to go beyond their demands for private sector participation and ask for more radical measures.
"A 'soft restructuring' doesn't help Greece as it only would prolong the same unsustainable level of debt," Schaeffler said. "We now need a real restructuring. At the same time Greece needs help to exit euro.
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