Europe Better Prepared Should Greece Default, Schaeuble Says - by Rainer Buergin and Patrick Donahue

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Europe is better prepared for a Greek default than two years ago, jacking up pressure on Greece to hold to its pledges and find the savings needed to win a second bailout.

Euro-area governments will decide “soon” on the new aid program, European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner Olli Rehn said. Finance ministers are due to convene in Brussels tomorrow for their second extraordinary meeting in a week after telling Greek officials to identify additional cuts of 325 million euros ($428 million). The measures are among conditions that must be met by tomorrow for Greece to secure a 130 billion- euro rescue needed to avert financial collapse.

“We want to do everything to help Greece master this crisis,” Schaeuble said in an interview with ZDF television late yesterday. “What we’re experiencing at the moment is much less bad than what may happen to Greece if the attempts to keep Greece in the euro zone failed.” Yet if everything fails, “we’re better prepared than two years ago,” he said.

Europe Better Prepared Should Greece Default, Schaeuble Says - Businessweek