Germany says ‘did not stand alone’ in Greece talks

Berenberg bank economist Holger Schmieding said a temporary euro zone exit for Greece would effectively be a “Grexit” as Athens would have to qualify again to rejoin the currency union and likely face an extremely stern examination in doing so.

German investor confidence declined less-than-expected in July as the crisis in China and Greece failed to result in much impact, survey results showed Tuesday.

After the marathon eurozone summit which began Sunday afternoon, Greece was promised a bailout deal worth up to €86 billion if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras implements tough reforms. “We now have the trust in Greece’s government which was lost over the past months”, the Chancellor said, adding that she expects Athens to stay on schedule before a vote in the Greek parliament, which will take place by Wednesday (15 July) on the bailout proposal.

Rice said that the International Monetary Fund executive board will discuss Greece’s request for an extension of the repayment due on June 30 in the coming weeks.

“The €85 billion ($93.5 billion) third bailout program for Greece, which will again be shouldered by the European taxpayers, serves primarily for paying the old debt with new borrowing”, they said. Merkel explained that the the Eurogroup will determine how this will be repayed later today.

Merkel would not say when that would happen but said she would give a positive report to a parliamentary committee this week.

“Rarely before has it been so apparent that Germany and France are capable of overcoming obstacles through cooperation and preparing compromises, which all the others are willing to accept, even when completely different interests and opinions are at stake in Europe”.