Euro Soap Opera or Greek Tragedies: Now ECB Rejects Greek Restructuring

It's quite the soap opera in Europe. The right hand does not know what the left does apparently. The news today is that European Central Bank officials rejected the Greek debt restructuring, "clashing with political leaders over a solution to the sovereign financial crisis". Bloomberg.

ECB Executive Board member Juergen Stark: “A Greek debt restructuring is not the appropriate way forward -- it would create a catastrophe” because it would damage the banking system", Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi: “a solution for reducing debt but not paying for it will not work.”

"European Union finance ministers for the first time this week floated the idea of extending Greece’s debt-repayment schedule as the nation struggles to meet the terms of last year’s 110 billion-euro ($156 billion) rescue. EU officials say that Greece won’t be able to return to markets and sell 27 billion euros of bonds next year as scheduled under the bailout, leaving them searching for alternatives to avoid a default".