Merkel: No debt reduction

The German chancellor does not believe that there is the need for further reductions to Greek debt and noted before the European MPs that the last aid tranche of the current program had not even been paid yet. German government representatives have previously stated that the funds will be given only if the Athens government keeps its commitments.

SYRIZA, which won Sunday's snap elections, has long held that it is unrealistic to expect Greece to pay off its enormous debt. ''Nobody believes that the Greek debt is sustainable,'' SYRIZA's deputy minister for international economic affairs Euclid Tsakalotos told the BBC on Tuesday, adding that ''I haven't met an economist in their heart of hearts that will tell you that Greece will pay back all of that debt. It can't be done.''