D-day for second bailout
Ministers likely to approve Greek package despite financing gaps
BRUSSELS: Eurozone finance ministers were expected to approve a second bailout for Greece yesterday to try to draw a line under months of uncertainty that had shaken the currency bloc, although there was work to be done to make the figures add up.
Diplomats and economists say they do not expect the package to resolve Greece’s economic problems. That could take a decade or more, a bleak prospect that brought thousands of Greeks onto the streets to protest austerity measures again on Sunday.
The ministers need to agree new measures to square the numbers, given the ever-worsening state of the Greek economy. But they say an agreement yesterday would help
It cannot wait any longer ... Greece has debt payments in March and could find itself in bankruptcy. — FRANCOIS BAROIN
restructure the country’s’ vasttdbtdebts, put it on a more stable financial footing and keep it inside the 17-country single currency zone.
Senior officials from eurozone finance ministries and the European Central Bank held a conference call on Sunday to go over the final details of the 130 billion-euro (Us$171bil) programme, including a debt sustainability analysis critical to the International Monetary Fund.
While there is scepticism in Germany and other countries that Greece will be able to live up to its commitments – including implementing 3.3 billion euros of spending cuts and tax increases – officials ssaid momentum was building for aapproval of the deal.
French Finance Minister Francois Bbaroin said all the elements were in place to reach an agreement.
“It cannot wait any longer ... Greece has debt payments in March and could find itself in bankruptcy, something which France has been trying to avoid for the last 18 months,” he told Europe 1 radio yesterday.
Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said Greece had done all that had been asked of it.
“There are many open details ... A big issue is that we have to get Greece’s debt on a level that is sustainable and enables Greece to survive,” she told reporters in Helsinki. A eurozone official in contact with junior ministers involved in the Sunday conference call said the financing gaps were not so large that they risked derailing the whole process.
“I don’t see anybody wanting to be responsible for pulling the plug on the deal at this late stage,” he said. – Reuters