German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that parts of the new 109 billion euro ($148.6 billion) rescue for the debt-laden country could be reopened, depending on the outcome of the troika's audit.
"We have to wait and see what the troika ... finds and what it will tell us (whether) we will have to renegotiate or not," she told Greek state television NET, without elaborating. Germany has repeatedly said negotiations about the details of the second rescue deal can begin only when the troika says Greece has qualified to receive a fresh, sixth tranche under the first bailout agreed back in 2010. The second bailout aims to ease Greece's debt burden by imposing a 21 percent loss on private Greek bondholders. However, many economists believe that a 50 percent loss is necessary to make the country's debt viable. The Financial Times newspaper reported that a split had opened in the euro zone over the deal. Quoting senior European officials, it said as many as seven of its 17 countries argued that the private bondholders should swallow bigger writedowns. Hardliners in Germany and the Netherlands were leading the calls for bigger writedowns but meeting fierce resistance from France and the ECB, which feared more selling of shares in European banks with big Greek bond holdings. Germany's Bundestag (lower house) will vote on Thursday on widening the scope of the European Financial Stability Facility bailout fund, as agreed by the EU leaders on July 21. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/28/greece-idUSL5E7KS00J20110928 '+'
