Germany has not changed stance on Greek debt-official

Comments made in a newspaper by Finance Minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble do not signal Germany's opposition towards a possible restructuring of Greek debt has changed, a high-ranking government official said on Thursday.

"The minister only described Germany's unchanged position," the official told Reuters, declining to be named.

In an interview with Die Welt newspaper released on Wednesday, Schaeuble said "additional steps" would have to be taken to deal with Greece's huge debt burden if an analysis from the European Central Bank and European Commission in June showed it is unsustainable.

The comments were the first time Germany had acknowledged that Greece may need to restructure its debt, but came with the caveat that such a step could only be pursued before 2013 if it were done on a voluntary basis.

Greece on Thursday reiterated it is not considering restructuring its debt, but the cost of insuring Greek government debt against default surged on growing market speculation the overborrowed country will need to restructure its debt.

The German official said Schaeuble's interview did not change Germany's opposition to a Greek debt restructuring involving private creditors before 2013.

"Only from 2013 onwards can private creditors can be held liable on a contractual basis -- changing the rules that apply till then would mean considerable uncertainty for the markets," the official said.

The ECB and the European Commission have both ruled out such a step, fearful that asking investors to accept changes such as smaller or later repayments could intensify the bloc's debt crisis, possibly sucking in other vulnerable economies.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated that private creditors will not be forced to take any losses on euro zone debt before a new bailout mechanism for the bloc is up and running in 2013 -- and even then, only debt issued after that date would be affected.

source: REUTERS