EU's Moscovici says Greece's creditors 'shouldn't play with fire'

[June 08, 2017]   PARIS (Reuters) - Greece's European creditors "shouldn't play with fire" over the country's debt relief program, EU Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Thursday.

European Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici addresses a news conference at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium May 22, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Athens urged its European lenders on Wednesday to offer incentives that will help break an impasse between the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund on the size of relief the country needs to make its debt sustainable.

Euro zone finance ministers will meet next Monday to consider debt relief measures but a deal is far from certain as Germany has long opposed giving Greeks more help after Athens walked back on past pledges.

"On the face of it, we're not there yet," Moscovici said, adding that it was "logical" that the International Monetary Fund remained on board.

Moscovici said debt-laden ridden country was reaching the limits of what its society could accept.

(Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by Richard Lough)

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