Sputnik News — The issue of debt relief for Greece has deeply divided France, Germany and other EU member states ahead of a meeting of the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers on Monday, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin is in favour of some kind of debt relief for Greece, because he believes that the Greek government will not otherwise be able to get the Greek parliament to pass the creditors’ austerity demands.
Der Spiegel reports that Sapin’s position is backed strongly by Portugal, but that German Finance Minister Schauble has the support of Finland and Austria.
Schauble is demanding that Athens submit the first analysis of Greece’s third program of financial aid, which was due in October 2015, and put in place more austerity measures before the Eurogroup considers a haircut of Greek debt.
