Accept renegotiate the bailout but only if Athens qualifies
BRUSSELS, 25 (IRIN)
Ministers Economy of the eurozone will discuss during their monthly meeting held on Monday the results of the elections in Greece and ask the future Greek government to respect its commitments to the EU adjustments and reforms. The Eurogroup is willing to renegotiate the Greek bailout and even ease the burden of debt, but only if Athens qualifies.
“The message is that ministers will respect the election results and hope Greece to meet its commitments, and we will respect ours, “said a senior official of the Eurogroup. This is the warning I have been saying in recent days the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, or Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
Although all European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel or his Economy Minister Wolfgang Schäuble- have said that a Greek exit from the euro (or ‘Grexit’) is not on the table, Dijsselbloem has made clear that if the new Greek government does not respect its commitments, will have more help EU. In total, Greece has received since 2010 around 240,000 million euros in two bailouts.
“Any Greek government will continue to need support from the eurozone,” said the president of the Eurogroup in an interview with the German magazine ‘Der Spiegel’. “A country that needs support to finance its economy and public spending must also respect the conditions. There is room to negotiate and discuss the design of adjustment programs. But just borrow money without conditions will not work,” he warned.
The most urgent for the Eurogroup is negotiating a further extension of the program of financial assistance to Greece, as the current expires on February 28th. If a new extension is not agreed, Athens would be the March 1 without any European coverage and will not receive the last tranche of 1,800 million euros in the second bailout. The extension must be requested by Greece, either by the new Government or the Government in power, according to sources
The new deadline, which could be several months, should serve to negotiate adjustments require creditors to change the last tranche of the bailout, as well as a new program for Greece, since all Member States agree that it may not yet be financed in the markets at acceptable rates. The Eurogroup has already offered Athens a precautionary credit line, which could be 10,000 million euros has said the Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, but that would be associated with new conditions.
The question Debt also form part of these negotiations. The Eurogroup agreed in November 2012 to take further measures to ease the burden of Greek debt, but only if Athens met a number of conditions, including achieve a primary surplus (excluding interest payments) and apply settings and reforms required. Greece won the surplus in 2013 and discussion on debt was scheduled for autumn 2014, but the disagreement between the troika and the Greek government on setting 2015 prevented even start the debate.
All States members oppose a new deprives Greek debt since most are in public hands (Spain has 26,000 million), but are willing to consider equivalent measures as further lengthen maturities and cut rates. So far, the greatest resistance has it come from Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb.
Still, a senior official of the Eurogroup is declared “very optimistic” about the negotiations with the new Greek government. . “Things will go much more smoothly than people think things will go well, whatever the outcome of the elections,” said
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