Greece deal is 'hard' for all sides, 'last try'

Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German parliament Friday that the deal for a third Greek bailout was hard for all sides but the last chance to resolve the crisis.

Merkel was seeking to convince lawmakers that official talks should resume between EU-IMF creditors and Greece, based on a tough reforms-for-aid compromise reached at a Brussels summit last weekend.

The chancellor said there "was no doubt that the agreement of Monday morning was hard" but urged German lawmakers to back the resumption of official negotiations, calling them "a last try" to resolve the debt drama.

"We would be grossly negligent, indeed acting irresponsibly if we did not at least try this path," Merkel added.

If a compromise had not been reached, the result would have meant "watching on as the country virtually bleeds out, people no longer getting their money, where chaos and violence could be the result," she said.

Equally, "bending the rules until they're worthless" was not an option, she said, arguing that leaving the path of fiscal rectitude "would mean the end of a community bound by legal rules, and we wouldn't agree to that".

That's why, she said, "we are making a last try in tough, tenacious discussions" to seal a third aid package, "despite all the setbacks of the past six months and despite all legitimate scepticism".
Source: AFP