According to Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, Greece will certainly get over the crisis and pay all the debts it owes to its European partners. However, as he said, debt repayment might take Greece about ten years.
In an interview with the Bild, Yannis Stournaras said that the country's partners “shouldn't worry” as “we will pay back our debts”. Mr Stournaras also reassured that no news from Greece is going to be daunting this year. What is more, he added that the Grexit issue is finally off the table.
Another point Yannis Stournaras drew attention to was the need for good news from Europe, a new hope and bright prospects ahead. He also insisted on working out a ten year plan to rehabilitate the economies of Europe and Greece.
In late 2012, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that if Greece did not borrow more, it might well have its debt written off by 2014-2015. The debt restructuring was also proposed by the IMF. However, in November Eurozone finance ministers decided to provide Greece with another bailout of 6 billion euros which in fact rests on the bond buyback principle.
Auditors of the EU, ECB and IMF are currently on a visit to Athens to assess the country’s progress in reforming and implementing the austerity measures. The troika experts have Greece’s future in their lap. They are to decide whether to grant the Greek government a next aid tranche or not.
At least, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem admitted Greece has met all its obligations for the time being.
