EU reiterates demand for written commitment from Greece to bailout terms

The European Union (EU) on Tuesday reiterated its demand that Greece must make "a clear commitment in writing" to the terms it agreed last month for a second international bailout. EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn attributed his insistence on a clear commitment from Greece to the lost confidence in the Greek government, whose "unilateral decision, though dropped later, to hold a referendum on the bailout package questions the commitment." "The confidence in the Greek authorities need to be mended," Rehn said in a joint press conference after a meeting of EU finance ministers. "To repair that sort of contract between international lenders and the Greek authorities, the new government must make explicit and unequivocal commitment related to the second international rescue package agreed during the eurozone summit last month," Rehn said. The commissioner's strong stance came just as Greek opposition party leaders were reported to have been "offended" by the demand for a written commitment from the Greek coalition authorities, of which the opposition party would join. European leaders have been refusing to sign off on the long-overdue bail-out loans of 8 billion euros (about 11 billion U.S. dollars) that Athens desperately needs in several weeks if it is to avoid default, owing to doubts that Greece was fully committed to the terms it agreed with international lenders.