Former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said Friday negotiators must remain cautious throughout discussions with Greece on its bailout, but the latest moves by Athens show the drama could end “fortunately.”
“The new proposals that are made by the Greek government are demonstrating a real will to have an agreement,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We will see. I remain very, very prudent myself, but clearly we have something which is very different from what was the position at the moment of the referendum.”
Trichet, who was ECB president from 2003 to 2011, signed off on Greece’s bailout packages in 2010 and 2011.
He stressed that trust is still an issue, saying it remains a question among Europeans and the international community whether the most recently submitted program will be implemented after Greece has changed positions in the past.
“What makes me reasonably confident—reasonably confident, but prudent—is that the people of Greece clearly demonstrated that they didn’t want to leave the euro, that they understood that they had to remain in Europe, in the euro area as well,” he said.
“That was clearly the results of the referendum, because the ‘no’ vote paradoxically meant in the presentation of the government ‘yes’ to Europe, ‘yes’ to the euro, but we want to have a negotiation which would be as tough as possible.”
Greeks now realize they must present a credible plan to Europe and the rest of the world, he said.
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Craig Erlam
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