希腊耍赖到底 表明不可能偿债

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, has warned Angela Merkel that it will be “impossible” for Athens to service debt obligations due in the coming weeks if the EU fails to distribute any short-term financial assistance to the country.

希腊总理亚历克西斯•齐普拉斯(Alexis Tsipras)警告安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)，如果欧盟不能向该国发放短期经济援助，雅典方面将“不可能”履行未来几周到期的偿债义务。

The warning, contained in a letter sent by Mr Tsipras to the German chancellor and obtained by the Financial Times, comes amid mounting concerns Athens will struggle to make pension and wage payments at the end of this month and could run out of cash before the end of April.

齐普拉斯在写给德国总理的一封信中发出这一警告；英国《金融时报》看到了这封信。目前各方越来越担心，雅典方面本月底支付养老金和工资将有难度，并可能在4月底之前耗尽现金。

The letter, dated March 15, came just before Ms Merkel agreed to meet Mr Tsipras on the sidelines of an EU summit last Thursday and invited him for a one-on-one session in Berlin, scheduled for this evening.

这封信的日期为3月15日，之后不久，默克尔同意上周四在欧盟峰会间隙会晤齐普拉斯，并邀请他今晚在柏林进行一对一会谈。

In the letter, Mr Tsipras warns that his government will be forced to choose between paying off loans, owed primarily to the International Monetary Fund, or continue social spending. He blames European Central Bank limits on Greece’s ability to issue short-term debt as well as eurozone bailout authorities’ refusal to disburse any aid before Athens adopts a new round of economic reforms.

齐普拉斯在信中警告，他的政府将被迫在还清贷款（主要是欠国际货币基金组织(IMF)的贷款）和维持社会支出之间作出选择。他指责欧洲央行(ECB)限制希腊发行短期债务的能力，还指责欧元区纾困当局拒绝在雅典方面推行新一轮经济改革之前发放任何援助。

“Given that Greece has no access to money markets, and also in view of the ‘spikes’ in our debt repayment obligations during the spring and summer . . . it ought to be clear that the ECB’s special restrictions when combined with disbursement delays would make it impossible for any government to service its debt,” Mr Tsipras wrote.

“鉴于希腊无法进入货币市场，鉴于我国将在春季和夏季迎来偿债义务的短期激增……应当十分明显的是，欧洲央行的特别限制加上援助发放延迟，将使任何政府都不可能偿还债务，”齐普拉斯写道。

He said servicing the debts would lead to a “sharp deterioration in the already depressed Greek social economy — a prospect that I will not countenance”.

他表示，偿还这些债务会导致“本已低迷的希腊社会经济急剧恶化——这一前景是我不堪设想的”。

“With this letter, I am urging you not to allow a small cash flow issue, and a certain ‘institutional inertia’, to not turn into a large problem for Greece and for Europe,” he wrote.

“借助这封信，我敦促您不要让一个小的现金流问题，以及某种‘制度惯性’，变成希腊乃至欧洲的一个大问题，”他写道。

Mr Tsipras was rebuffed in efforts to secure quick financing from either the ECB or eurozone lenders at Thursday’s Brussels meeting with Ms Merkel and a small group of other EU leaders — including French President François Hollande and ECB chief Mario Draghi.

齐普拉斯上周四在布鲁塞尔与默克尔和其他几个欧盟领导人——包括法国总统弗朗索瓦•奥朗德(François Hollande)和欧洲央行行长马里奥•德拉吉(Mario Draghi)开会时，曾试图从欧洲央行或欧元区贷款机构争取到快速融资，但他的努力遭到挫败。

In an interview, Luis de Guindos, the Spanish finance minister, said his eurozone counterparts would not sign off on any new bailout funding until a full set of approved reforms was passed and implemented by Greek authorities, a process that could take months.

西班牙财长路易斯•德金多斯(Luis de Guindos)在接受采访时表示，在希腊当局通过和实施一整套经批准的改革之前（这个过程可能需要几个月时间），他的欧元区同行不会放行任何新的纾困资金。

Mr Tsipras’s five-page letter is particularly critical of the ECB, which he said has forbidden Greek banks from holding more short-term government debt than they did when they requested an extension of the current bail out last month — a cap that has prevented Athens from relying on Treasury bills to fill its urgent cash needs, since Greek banks have become nearly the only buyer of such debt.

齐普拉斯的5页信函对欧洲央行的批评格外尖锐，他称，在希腊各银行上月请求延长当前纾困时，欧洲央行禁止它们增持短期政府债券——这一上限使雅典方面不能依靠国债来满足紧迫现金需求，原因是该国的银行已近乎成为此类债务的唯一买家。