European Economic Commissioner Olli Rehn said Wednesday Greece must stop living beyond its means and start achieving budget primary surpluses.
At a hearing of the French parliament's European Affairs Committee, he said Greece's political will to tackle deficits shouldn't be underestimated.
Rehn noted that Belgium managed to post primary budget surpluses for almost a decade in the late 1990s.
The European Commission is evaluating a mechanism to "reprofile" Greek debt on a voluntary basis, without reducing the debt's capital. The mechanism must be voluntary to avoid scaring lending nations, he said.
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