Greece’s debt can be written off –whatever Wolfgang Schäuble says | Philip Inman

The self-appointed guardian of the EU's financial rulebook says EU rules forbid a write-off. But there are many ways to get round the legal restrictions

A vote in the Greek parliament means little to Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schiuble. The self-appointed guardian of the EU's financial rulebook says Athens can vote as many times as it likes in favour of a deal that promises, even in the vaguest terms, to write off some of its colossal debts, but that doesn't mean the rules allow it.

In fact, as Schiuble delights in pointing out, any attempt at striking out Greek debt is, according to his advice, illegal. Yet Schiuble knows Greece's debts are unsustainable unless some of them are written off - he has said as much on several occasions. So faced with its internal contradictions, he posits that the deal must fail and the poorly led Greeks exit the euro.

Optimists argue that a debt write-off can take many forms, getting round Schiuble's legal restrictions

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