Compromise Merkel-Lagarde for budgetary Greece

"Topical issues under the German presidency of the G20 group» will be discussed at the meeting of the First. Merkel with the IMF chief Kr. Lagkart, according to the official announcement of the chancellery. however it is expected that one of the main issues of the agenda will be the Greek crisis. The meeting will take place in the evening, after Angela Merkel will host a dinner to the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. It is not clear whether there will be a trilateral meeting Merkel-Lagarde-Juncker in the German capital.

According to the German News Agency, Merkel and Lagarde will settle the details of an apparent compromise between Europeans and the IMF, which provides a more "flexible interpretation" to the budgetary targets of the Greek program, and any additional measures from Athens side .

A few days ago, the Die Welt Berlin newspaper claimed that Merkel and Lagarde had a telephone conversation, in which the head of the IMF pledged support to the Chancellor, the Fund's participation in the current rescue program and to explore possible facilities for the Greek program at the earliest 2018, ie one year after the German elections.
 

"Buys time" the IMF?

In this way the IMF seems to "buy time" once again the Greek issue. The Welt points out that Merkel and Lagarde have good "chemistry" and that the chancellor had helped Lagarde in attempting to re-elected to the leadership of the IMF. Moreover, Christine Lagarde reportedly considers Merkel as one of the few stability islands nowadays geopolitical uncertainty and therefore would not want to "be one of the obstacles, which could stumble Merkel on the road to re-election in the chancellery. " The IMF itself was unwilling to comment on the report in the Welt.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, in a recent statement, said that "there is no doubt" about the IMF's participation in the Greek program. The necessity of the participation of the IMF program emphasizes the head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Klaus Regklingk in an interview with the Suddeutsche Zeitung. The Regklingk points out that, although in the future the ESM could take himself to rescue member states of the eurozone budget problems, but in the case of Greece stated differently and non-participation of the IMF "will not meet the agreements makes national governments to their parliaments. "

Source: German Press Agency (DPA), Die Welt, Deutsche Welle