Greece: Germany warns over debt commitments

Germany has warned the new Greek government that it must live up to its commitments to its creditors. German government spokesman Steffan Seibert said it was important for Greece to “take measures so that the economic recovery continues”. His comments were echoed by the head of the eurozone finance ministers’ group. The far-left Syriza party, which won Sunday’s poll, wants to scrap austerity measures demanded by international lenders, and renegotiate debt payments. However Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup, said on Monday: “There is very little support for a write-off in Europe.” Speaking after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels, he said members should “abide by the rules and commitments”. Meanwhile the German government said that Greece’s new leadership should take measures to ensure the economic recovery continues. “A part of that is Greece holding to its prior commitments and that the new government be tied in to the reform’s achievements,” government spokesman Steffan Seibert said.

Syriza’s victory has caused some concern in the financial markets. In a volatile start to the week the euro briefly touched an 11-year low against the dollar, before recovering to trade almost 0.7% higher against the US currency. In Athens the stock market closed 3.2% lower, with particularly heavy losses for Piraeus Bank which fell 17.6% and Alpha Bank which fell 11.6%. BBC