Where is truth

EURO ZONE: The Eurogroup, prudent, is not yet "ready" to unlock a new aid for Athens

 

REUTERS - Finance ministers from the euro area were cautious about the agreement reached in Greece on a new reform program and indicated that no final decision on a second aid plan would intervene in Athens Thursday.

On their arrival at an extraordinary meeting of the Eurogroup, they have mostly emphasized their willingness to discuss in depth this second program, which must also be approved by the Central Bank European, International Monetary Fund and private creditors of Greece.

"I do not think we have a final and binding decisions tonight. We need to discuss several elements of the proposals that we submitted, "said President of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker.

"It's not a disaster, the debate must be completed," he added.

For its part, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn, has ruled that the agreement at the technical level achieved in the Thursday afternoon in Athens should now be presented and defended by the Greek Minister Evangelos Venizelos. 

"It is the Greek Government and Parliament to convince their European partners through a strong commitment and concrete actions to ensure fiscal consolidation and structural reforms," ​​said the Finnish Commissioner.

Previously, the Greek minister said he hoped now to register a political agreement of the Eurogroup.

It must submit to his peers in the euro area economy measures of around 3.3 billion euros this year to convince them to continue to help Greece. 

Many important details

The three coalition parties in power in Athens is agreed that early in the afternoon on the reforms demanded in exchange for the payment of the second assistance plan, which would allow Athens to avoid becoming insolvent in March. (See)

But important details remain to be finalized that address the participation of private creditors in debt restructuring Greek, the amount of public funding provided by the 16 other countries in the area and the single monetary boost that could be given by the ECB.

Banks and other private creditors of Greece agreed with Athens based on a discount of 70% of their assets as part of an exchange of Greek bonds that & rsquo ; they hold against new titles. 

Countries in the euro area should provide for their € 130 billion of government loans and the President of the ECB, Mario Draghi has opened the door Thursday that the institute in Frankfurt redistribute States the benefits of Greek bond holdings.

For its part, the IMF wants to make sure before lending new money to Athens as the Greek debt to be sustainable in the new term, while the objective of achieving a level 120% of debt in 2020 is not quite certain.

In addition, several countries, including Germany, Finland and the Netherlands should consult their parliaments before signing the final agreement.

Other countries, notably Italy and Cyprus, will not be represented at ministerial level at the meeting. 

Mario Monti, Chairman and Italian finance minister, visiting Washington, will be represented by Carlo Monticelli, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.

The French Minister of Economy, Baroin, has meanwhile arrived in Brussels in the evening.