Austria Chancellor: ECB Can't Provide Greece Bridge Payments Without Aid Package

        By Nicole Lundeen
        VIENNA--Greece and its creditors would need to reach an agreement on a new aid package before the European Central Bank could provide a so-called bridge payments to the country, Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann said Tuesday.
        "The political problem is that there isn't an [aid] program [for Greece]," Mr. Faymann said, speaking at a press conference after the government's weekly cabinet meeting.
        The comments come a day after Austria's Central Bank Governor Ewald Nowotny, who is also a member of the ECB's governing council, said it may be possible for the ECB to provide advance payments to Greece on the assumption that an aid package from the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, was to be completed. Such a move could be necessary as even if creditors and Greece reach an agreement before July 20, when Greece is due to repay 3.5 billion euros ($3.86 billion) to the ECB, several eurozone countries require parliamentary approval to use the bailout fund.
        Mr. Faymann said it was unclear to him how the Greek government could present a reform plan that was acceptable to all of its international creditors after the Greek population rejected creditors conditions in a referendum on Sunday.
        "The rejection was clear; how it will proceed isn't clear," he said, adding that he couldn't pretend to be optimistic.
        In any case, the next steps lie with the Greek government he said.
        "To say what we [Greece's creditors] would suggest doesn't make much sense," he said. "It's Greece's move."
        Write to Nicole Lundeen at nicole.lundeen@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 07, 2015 03:12 ET (07:12 GMT)

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