Irish finance minister slams bank role in Greece talks

Ireland's Finance Minister Michael Noonan has criticised the involvement of private creditors in talks to end the Greece debt crisis, according to a German newspaper Saturday. The report came after crunch talks between Greek officials and private sector creditors had been adjourned overnight from late Friday. The banks and other financial institutions are expected to take at least a 50 percent "haircut" on their Greek debt, which would remove about 100 billion euros from Athens' debt burden of more than 350 billion euros. Involving private banks, insurers and investment funds had worsened the eurozone crisis, Noonan was quoted as telling the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "When you lend out money, the first question is: will I get it back?" he was quoted as saying by the daily. He said it had been a "fatal" mistake to involve the private creditors, a decision that had "driven the markets crazy", according to the German translation of his comments. He said markets would only calm down once it is clear that eurozone members are making serious efforts to solve their debt problems. Asked if Germany was doing enough to end the crisis, he said: "I don't believe that one country can take sole responsibility for the problem." "Europe is made up of 27 countries. Because of its economic strength, Germany must play a major role. But it would be unfair to shift the burden to the Germans as a whole." He said that "for now, Germany has not paid a lot of money. So far we are talking about guarantees. It is also true that Germany has benefited greatly from the euro and has developed into an exemplary economy in recent years." The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that Ireland's own 85-billion-euro bailout was on track but faces "considerable challenges" this year from subdued economic growth and weak demand from key trading partners. Officials from the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank -- known as the troika -- have been in Ireland for the past 10 days to assess the government's progress on meeting bailout targets. Greece's finance ministry said Saturday the talks between the government and private creditors were expected to resume later in the weekend, without specifying. Both sides have expressed optimism of a deal being reached.