EU, IMF can each help Greece: eurozone's Juncker
(BRUSSELS) - Eurozone finance chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday that aid to overcome a Greek debt crisis could be jointly sourced from the European Union and the IMF but need not be firmly decided at this week's EU summit.
"I am not in favour of going to the International Monetary Fund," the Luxembourg premier told European parliament lawmakers.
"But it is not out of the question to consider whether we could have recourse to two approaches."
He said bilateral loans from eurozone partners could be agreed in tandem with "a dose of IMF (aid) which amounts to more than just technical expertise."
Regardless, Juncker said, it was "not absolutely necessary" that European Union leaders agree on the mechanism for helping Greece at their summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
The statement from the senior eurozone finance official eased some of the pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel that had been building on Monday in Athens, the European Commission and fellow EU heavyweights Spain, France and Italy.
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