By N. Bellos
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Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem went a step further this week in weighing in on the “IMF factor” entailed in the now tenuous Greek program, warning that Greece will default if the Fund decides to leave the bailout.
The Dutch finance minister’s eyebrow-raising statement was carried in the Wednesday edition of the Netherlands-based Financieele Dagblad.
The comment attributed to Dijsselbloem is the first time he has publicly referred to such as scenario, the newspaper stresses. Previous remarks merely warned that the Netherlands, similar to the German federal government, could not continue to support the Greek state without the IMF participation in the program – i.e. the third bailout since 2010.
In a more calming tone, he said the IMF does not want to abandon the Greek program, whereas his task as Eurogroup chairman is to stabilize the situation in Greece, something he said is in the best interest of all involved parties.
“We continue to neglect the massive damage, from an economic and political standpoint, that Greece’s exit from the euro zone would entail,” he said.
