Greece will need a fourth bailout due to unsustainable debt pile says former finance minister

Greece will need a fourth bailout as its debts remain utterly unsustainable despite years of austerity and attempted reforms, according to George Papaconstantinou, a former Greek finance minister.

A "radical liberalisation of the economy" is also necessary as the country needs to attract foreign investment because Greece lacks the domestic resources needed to grow its industries, he told an audience at the London School of Economics.

"Pretty much everyone agrees that Greek debt is not sustainable," he said. "Is there a prospect of a fourth bailout? Yes. Even in the best case... I doubt that Greece will be able to stand on its own feet."

Mr Papaconstantinou, who was Greece's finance minister from 2009 to 2011, said that these measures have to be accompanied by serious economic reforms.

"We will need to be careful about how it is done. Debt relief cannot be the Holy Grail," he said. "You can get rid of all of the the debt but if you have not fixed the institutions, and have not done the structural reforms, then you will end up back here again."

Part of the problem is that too many Greeks are in denial over the cause of the problem, he said. "If people still think some dark forces conspired against us to steal our national heritage - a view which unfortunately prevails - then we are not going to be able to move forwards," said Mr Papaconstantinou.

He said that governments have only found themselves able to implement economic reforms by blaming external powers for forcing them onto Greece, adding that he used this tactic himself to push more reforms forward, for instance adding judicial reforms into the Troika package to force their implementation.

Is there a prospect of a fourth bailout? Yes. Even in the best case... I doubt that Greece will be able to stand on its own feet

George Papaconstantinou, a former Greek finance minister

He noted that Greece was the first EU country to vote a populist party into power. But he also hopes the country's political centre can recover and implement reforms more honestly and effectively.

"We could pioneer a closing of the circle, not in a return to politics as usual, and not a return to the way things used to be," he said.