http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/german-report-new-greece-aid-package-could-come-from-eu-budget-a-917762.html
That Greece will ultimately need more money to stave off insolvency has largely become common knowledge in the halls of power in Brussels. Indeed, SPIEGEL reported ona financing shortfall of up to €11 billion back in early July. The hope in Berlin, though, was that this uncomfortable truth could be somehow avoided until after the September general election in Germany so as not to endanger Chancellor Angela Merkel's bid for a third term.
On Tuesday morning, however, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union party said during a campaign event that Athens would indeed need a third aid package. And on Wednesday, the Munich-based daily Süddeutsche Zeitung is reporting that the bailout money may have to come out of the European Union budget for lack of other options.
The paper reports that Brussels is considering tapping EU structural funds so as to avoid the massive political problems -- first and foremost in Berlin -- that a third bailout would cause. Furthermore, a second debt haircut for Greece has been ruled out by Schäuble and is seen with skepticism elsewhere as well. There is also concern that additional loans would only serve to inflate Greece's already untenable debt load.
"The only option besides debt forgiveness remains a transfer from the EU budget or from the budgets of its partners," the paper cites an unnamed source familiar with the negotiations as saying.
= new reply since forum marked as read