New bailout for Greece not the only option, says Rehn

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn does not rule out Greece needing a third bailout package but the country's lenders have other options to keep its aid programme going, a Finnish newspaper quoted him as saying.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday that Greece will need another bailout, triggering a storm of protest from opposition parties five weeks before an election in Europe's biggest economy.

Greece's troika of lenders from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund plan to run the rule over its aid programme in the autumn.

"Then we will also review Greece's programme's possible continuation and financing. The debt sustainability can be improved for instance by extending the loan periods," Helsingin Sanomat quoted Rehn as saying on Wednesday.

He said the key question was Greece's ability to carry out the economic reforms under its current programme and its ability to run a surplus in its public finances.

Greece has received two bailouts totalling about 240 bln euros ($322 bln).