Forcing Greece’s private creditors to take part in a second bailout package is “playing with fire,” Eurogroup leader and Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker warned Saturday during an interview with Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
According to Juncker, the Greek debt crisis could spread to at least five other European countries. The difficulties that have forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek financial assistance from the EU and the IMF may also hit, “due to their high levels of debt, Belgium and Italy, even before Spain,” Juncker said.
Asked whether Greece could leave the eurozone, Juncker replied: It is an “absurd idea with unimaginable consequences.”
“There would be a contagion not only across the eurozone but also in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia. It would cause widespread fire. Even the most outlandish don’t raise this hypothesis,” he said.
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