Athens must respect its commitments, Schaeuble tells German lawmakers
He said the issue was for Athens to honour its commitments and pointed out that the country had been on the road to recovery, though not yet over the crisis, until the January 25 elections.
"There needs to be a minimum amount of trust," Schaeuble told German MPs, noting that within a currency union you cannot work with a government that refuses to adhere to and implement agreements.
"We do not even know if the Greek government will hold the referendum, if it is for or against it," Schaeuble said. The Greek government has to decide what it wants before new talks could start in earnest, he asserted.
Schaeuble also denied that Europeans had prevented former Greek prime minister George Papandreou from holding a referendum on the bailout terms in 2011, saying that Papandreou was stopped by his own government.
He said that they had agreed that a referendum should take place on December 6, 2011 and that the question would be framed as a decision to stay or leave the euro, adding that he lost a bet with his Spanish counterpart, who correctly predicted that it would never take place.
"At around 22:00 the meeting ended and Papandreou flew back with Mr. Venizelos. And we have the impression that it would happen that way. I lost a bet.... I bet a bottle of wine and I paid for it. Because the next day they toppled Papandreou, his own party, PASOK. That is the historic truth," Schaeuble said, addressing Die Linke.
"Please don't say in the future, without knowing, that we prevented the referendum from taking place then in Greece. No, on the contrary, we agreed with them," he said.
