Greece debt crisis likely to hit Italy, Belgium, warns Luxembourg PM

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of eurozone finance ministers, on Saturday cautioned that the ongoing debt crisis of Greece and other countries in the region could hit Italy and Belgium, Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German daily reported.

Juncker, who is also prime minister of Luxembourg said Italy and Belgium with their high levels of debt could get affected by the sovereign crisis in eurozone countries even before the crisis hits Spain.

Noting that the crisis could have disastrous effect on the currency of the region, euro, he warned we are playing with fire.

“Solving the euro area's debt crisis will take time. We see more turmoil but no hard restructurings. We see an additional €50-60bn of European Union (EU) / International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to Greece, possibly with a softening of maturity extensions,” said Societe Generale in a note.

He said private sector participation in the bailout of Greece, which is currently under consideration, would send wrong signals to the rating agencies as it was seen as a debt default.

If Greece was deemed to be a defaulter that would have drastic consequences for the rest of the eurozone, he said.

Juncker said Greece would take more time than previously estimated to solve its problems, La Libre, a Belgian daily quoted him as saying.

If we could agree on a new aid program, submitted to strict conditionality, we could develop an overall solution that would enable Greece, in a timeframe that will probably be longer than forecast, to return within the rails, he said.