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M. Continuo

ECB's Asmussen urges Greece to focus on reforms


    ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece should focus on getting its reform program back on track rather than losing time by trying to renegotiate its international bailout terms, European Central Bank policymaker Joerg Asmussen said in a speech at a conference on Monday.

    "The first priority for the new Greek government has to be getting the program back on track," said Asmussen, who is a member of the ECB's Executive Board. "Policy implementation has virtually stalled over the last three months," he said.

    Asmussen, who has become an international negotiator for the ECB since joining the bank at the start of the year, had told a Greek newspaper at the weekend that giving Greece more time to meet its fiscal targets would require additional funding by the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund.

    (Reporting by Deepa Babington and George Georgiopoulos; Writing by Eva Kuehnen; Editing by Louise Ireland)