White House asks EU to keep Greece in the eurozone until US elections

The Obama administration will put pressure on European governments to prevent the exit of Greece from the euro area before U.S. presidential elections in November, told for The Independent British government sources. Washington is worried that if the European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB) will not give Greece the next tranche of external financing package, the situation would escalate and Greece will exit the euro area shortly before U.S. elections, reports British newspaper The Independent.

U.S. administration officials ask eurozone governments to postpone drastic measures until after the election, worried that the resulting turbulence in financial markets could endanger President Barack Obama’s chances of re-election, the sources said.

According to information obtained by The Independent, European leaders seem to resonate with the White House reasoning as they fear that Mitt Romney, Obama’s Republican opponent, would be a more “isolationist” president because of demands in Congress by the Republican Party.

Obama discussed the situation in the eurozone Wednesday in a telephone conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, and the two politicians welcomed the statements made in early august by ECB President Mario Draghi, who said he will do whatever is necessary to ensure the survival of the euro and presented an aggressive plan to solve the crisis.

The sources also said that Britain has lobbied Germany to make sure that, if inspectors from international financial institutions will recommend the suspension of external financing to Greece, Italy and Spain will be protected from the consequences.

Officials from EU, IMF and ECB will return to Athens in early September to finalize the report on economic and financial situation of Greece. Scheduled for mid-September, the report will be used by euro zone finance ministers, who will decide in October whether Greece will receive the next tranche of €31 billion in external financing of the €130 billion program in progress.