Emphatic denial by Asmussen for a rollover of Greek bonds

European Central Bank member Jörg Asmussen expressed his unequivocal opposition to the passing of the maturity of Greek bonds as he showed up at the meeting of the 17 Eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg. Asmussen added that in the draft budget for 2014 there is a "significant fiscal gap," which, unlike the funding gap, the coverage of which will be made by Greece’s partners, should be covered by Greece.

Speaking of a significant budgetary gap Asmussen talked about problems in the Greek budget for 2014 which will be resolved by the Greek government, hours before the deadline set by the European Commission on Member-States to submit their draft budgets for approval.

ECB and the central banks of the eurozone countries hold Greek bonds of 4.4 billion euros expiring in 2016. The Greek side had hoped to pass the bond maturity to have a solution to the funding gap that will occur after the end of the existing aid program in the second half of 2014. Asmussen dismissed the idea and said the amount of the financing gap for Greece will be judged by the progress of privatizations and the implementation of structural reforms.

Although Schäuble does not attend the eurogroup meeting due to process in order to form a government in Germany, Asmussen assumed the role of the 'hard' negotiatior and stressed that shifting the maturity of bonds held by the central banks of the eurozone would mean monetary financing of Greece, which is explicitly prohibited and that today's eurogroup will also address ways to cover the Greek financing gap estimated at 5-6 billion euros for the second half of 2014.