Merkel rival warns of impact of Greek default Peer Steinbrueck, the Social Democrats' candidate for the role of German chancellor at next year's election, said the German public need to be told that the loan guarantees Germany has provided for Greece could leave taxpayers footing a hefty bill. "We were ready to pay money for the costs of German reunification - something all of our neighbours welcomed despite the bad experiences they had had with us," he said, a reference to the Nazi regime. Mr Steinbrueck also cautioned that it would take troubled Greece, which is awaiting its next tranche of international aid, a further eight years before it could fund itself in the capital markets. "We're going to have to build a bridge for this period and that's going to cost money," he added. Eurozone finance ministers are preparing to meet on Monday in an effort to agree a deal that would release at least € 31bn (£25.1bn) of aid to Greece, after failing to reach an agreement on Wednesday. "There's no time to waste," Mrs Merkel said yesterday. A solution for Greece "is being intensively worked on." Finance ministers will hold a conference call today ahead of next week's meeting.