Euro nations divided on more funds for Greece
09 May 2011
Europe's debt crisis is back to square one after a year with EU nations back to addressing the problem of saving the malfunctioning Greek state running out of money.
Greece has been falling short of targeted budget deficit cuts and is expected to need nearly €30 billion ($43 billion) of extra financing for 2012, according to euro-zone officials.
Finance minister George Papaconstantinou, said on Saturday in Athens that Greece would look to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
With its growing dependence on aid from other euro members questions are being raised whether Greece should hold talks with its private creditors about extending the maturity of its bonds, a step that has the quiet support of Germany but which other nations are resisting.
Euro-zone finance ministers are to meet next week in Brussels to debate Greece's debt burden, its need for additional aid, and its request for more time to meet its fiscal targets. According to participants in the talks, reaching an agreement on the increasingly thorny issues surrounding Greece's crisis could be a long drawn affair taking months to settle.
European governments seem to be resigned to the prospect of Greece emerging as a ward of its euro-zone peers for years to come. Painful as the prospect is, opposition to extending further aid to Greece is mounting both in parliaments and voters, especially in Germany.
