BERLIN (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, US Treasury secretary Jack Lew and International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde, in separate interventions, sought to grant debt restructuring to Greece to help the country resolve a financial crisis.
"European contracts exclude debt relief," Schauble said at a conference of the German Bundesbank.
The current primary goal is to restore the competitiveness of the Greek economy, otherwise the Greeks "will return to the same problems in a few years," the minister added.
Greece and its international lenders, to which Athens owes $270 billion, have been trying to find an agreement under which Greece would receive additional financial aid.
The negotiations deadlocked in late June as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected the bailout deal proposed by lenders and announced a nationwide referendum on the issue. The vote resulted in Greek citizens rejecting the creditors' proposals.
Greece now has until late Thursday to present concrete proposals to its lenders to try to secure a new bailout.
