ECB: Bond-buying rules are equal in all countries

The European Central Bank follows the same rules in every country where it buys bonds, its president said yesterday, responding to a question about reimbursing investors in Greek government debt. “We’ll certainly look in(to) this idea but let’s keep in mind that the rules that govern purchases are the same for all member-countries,” Mario Draghi told a Greek member of the European Parliament. Greece is not part of the ECB’s 2.3-trillion-euro bond-buying program and Draghi said it must pass its second bailout review before it can be considered for admission. sented its program on Sunday for the early parliamentary election in March. Socialist ally Rumen Radev, a Russia-friendly newcomer to politics, won the presidential election by a wide margin in November, prompting center-right Prime Minister Boiko Borisov to step down. The resignation triggered a snap parliamentary poll set for March 26 – the third in three years – that analysts say may again fail to produce a stable majority government in the European Union’s poorest member-state. The BSP’s election program includes the ambitious goal of achieving economic growth of no less than 12 percent over four years. Bulgaria’s economy grew by 3.4 percent in the third quarter of 2016 from a year earlier. The Socialists vowed to make a significant improvement in living standards. More than a quarter of Bulgaria’s 7.2 million people live below the poverty line and many Bulgarians have moved abroad in recent times.

In a rare interview yesterday, Greek Union of Shipowners chief Theodore Veniamis accused seamen’s representatives of blocking the way of some 50,000 Greeks who could be employed on Greek-owned vessels by allegedly refusing to authorize the signing of collective labor contracts on competitive terms.