Merkel Urges IMF, EC to Speed Up Greece Aid Talks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (C), World Bank President Robert Zoellick (L) and Dominique Strauss-Kahn (R), head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), leave a press conference in the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, 28 April 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that the bailout aid talks between Greece, the IMF and the European Commission have to be accelerated.

Merkel met in Berlin Wednesday with the heads of the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Labor Organization.

The chief of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has warned that the failure to act quickly to prop up Greece might have dire ramifications for the rest of Europe in terms of financial stability.

"We also need to restore confidence... I'm confident that the problem will be fixed. But if we don't fix it in Greece, it may have a lot of consequences on the European Union," Strauss-Kahn said as quoted by the BBC which points out that he and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, were in Berlin to urge German politicians to agree to a rescue deal for Greece worth billions of euros.

"It is perfectly clear that the negotiations with the Greek government, the European Commission and the IMF need to be accelerated. We hope they can be wrapped up in the coming days," declared the German Chancellor.

Currently, the EU and the IMF are offering Greece an EUR 45 B bailout loan package whose activation the Greek government requested recently.

Reports in Germany say, however, that the bailout aid for Greece might have to reach up to EUR 120 B in three years. Public opinion in Germany, which will be largest single contributor to any aid program for struggling Greece, is actually against such contributions.