Merkel Allies Signal Greece Concessions

Concessions are possible for Greece so long as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras shows a willingness to meet the main targets set out in his country’s bailout program, a senior lawmaker with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party said.

A precedent for program adjustments was made with the first Greek bailout, when the country secured lower interest rates and longer maturities on bilateral loans than those originally set, Norbert Barthle, the Christian Democratic Union’s budget spokesman in parliament, said today in a telephone interview.

“Small concessions are feasible provided they are strictly made within the framework of the second aid program,” Barthle said. “For instance, the interest and maturity on loans could be adjusted, as in the case of the first aid package for Greece.”

Barthle’s comments add to signs of an easing in Germany’s resistance to granting Greece more room as it struggles to meet the terms laid down by its international creditors in a fifth year of recession. Samaras, whose ruling coalition favors an extension of its fiscal adjustment program by two years, is due to meet with Merkel in Berlin on Aug. 24, and will travel to Paris the next day for talks with President Francois Hollande.

Bloomberg

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