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Germany's Schaeuble has little hope of Greece deal Thursday: lawmaker

17 June 2015, 14:37 CET
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(BERLIN) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers that he was not hopeful that Greece and its creditors could reach agreement on the release of new bailout funds at a meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday.

Schaeuble told members of the German parliament's finance committee on Wednesday that "no preparations" had been made to reach any decision at a meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers, a lawmaker told journalists, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source added that Schaeuble did not express any positive comments to the committee, and said he could not imagine a solution being drawn up without the International Monetary Fund.

The Eurogroup -- which comprises eurozone finance ministers -- is scheduled to meet on Thursday.

But Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis already said in a German newspaper interview this week that Athens would not bring a list of new reform measures to the meeting as the Eurogroup was not the right forum for such negotiations.

At a regular news briefing in Berlin, German finance ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said "it is and remains our goal to move a step forward" at the Luxembourg meeting.

"We are heading to the meeting with realistic expectations," he said.

In Brussels, the EU's Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said the meeting "may not be conclusive, but it will be useful."

And speaking alongside him, Valdis Dombrovskis, EU Commissioner for the Euro, said "the technical pre-conditions are there. What is needed now is political will... to do the final push to reach an agreement."


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