This is bogus. This is just stall-for-time PR BS.
They had lots and lots of time already to write-off these debts. It ain't gonna happen (especially the French debt.)
I beg to differ..the U.S. has the hammer here, and other nations (like Japan, the U.K. and others) are very willing to participate. Even France has said in the past they would forgive 50%(as a starting point for negotiations). Besides, none of these countries wants to alienate a potential future economic dynamo with those kinds of oil reserves, especially when other countries are cooperating.