ECB's Benoit Coeure Says Greek Exit From Euro Can't Be Ruled Out

 
   By Brian Blackstone 
 

        FRANKFURT--Greece's potential exit from the euro can no longer be ruled out after Athens ended talks with its creditors late last week and called for a referendum, European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeure said in a French newspaper interview released Monday.
        "An exit of Greece from the eurozone, which had been a theoretical idea, can unfortunately no longer be ruled out," Mr. Coeure said in an interview with Les Echos that was posted on the ECB's website. "It's the result of the choice the Greek government made to end discussions with its creditors and to call a referendum, which led the eurogroup to not extend the second aid plan," Mr. Coeure said. The eurogroup refers to finance ministers from the 19-member euro bloc.
        Still, the ECB and other European institutions want Greece to remain in the eurozone, Mr. Coeure said. He added that the financing plan offered to Athens last week was "much more favorable than what was able to have been proposed in the past."
        "Europe never abandoned Greece," Mr. Coeure said.
        The Greek public is due to vote in a referendum Sunday on the latest proposals from the institutions overseeing the country's bailout program that include the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the ECB.
        If Greeks reject the offer, "it would be a refusal of the offer from 19 other countries in the eurozone," Mr. Coeure said. "It would therefore be very difficult to restart a political dialogue."
        "The eurogroup clearly considers that the proposals of the three institutions went to the limit of what was acceptable," he said.
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        June 29, 2015 17:21 ET (21:21 GMT)

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