Euro-zone finance ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday seeking to forge consensus on a second bailout to Greece and resolve deep divisions on how to encourage the country's private creditors to share the pain without provoking a fresh debt crisis.With top European Central Bank officials continuing to warn European governments against any effort to force private creditors to accept a debt restructuring—and thereby trigger a default call from credit-rating agencies—finance ministers made it clear they were willing to provide fresh help to fill a financing shortfall in Greek government accounts.However, it remained unclear how ministers could mollify the ECB and satisfy the German government, which has been pushing a plan that would have holders of Greek bonds maturing between 2012 and 2014 agreeing to delay their right to repayment by up to seven years.German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said there would be no final decision on a plan on Tuesday but that his government "is prepared" to offer further help to Greece.
By LAURENCE NORMAN And WILLIAM HOROBIN
WSJ
Euro-zone finance ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday seeking to forge consensus on a second bailout to Greece and resolve deep divisions on how to encourage the country's private creditors to share the pain without provoking a fresh debt crisis.
With top European Central Bank officials continuing to warn European governments against any effort to force private creditors to accept a debt restructuring—and thereby trigger a default call from credit-rating agencies—finance ministers made it clear they were willing to provide fresh help to fill a financing shortfall in Greek government accounts.
However, it remained unclear how ministers could mollify the ECB and satisfy the German government, which has been pushing a plan that would have holders of Greek bonds maturing between 2012 and 2014 agreeing to delay their right to repayment by up to seven years.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said there would be no final decision on a plan on Tuesday but that his government "is prepared" to offer further help to Greece.
