The euro area off the Greek fire
Posted by admin on July 23rd, 2011To save its common currency, Europe is the part of the fire. The seventeen countries of the euro have violated a prohibition group, assuming the risk of a possible partial collapse of Greece. But national leaders have also pushed their own taboos in order to restore confidence and resolder the team in front of the fire.
The Brussels summit, cleared the day before by a dinner at three in Berlin, saw everyone had a role. Jean-Claude Trichet, haughty guardian of monetary orthodoxy, has reluctantly accepted the possibility of a "default" of Greece, even if he believes will be averted. Nicolas Sarkozy rempoché its bank tax – a project specifically designed to avoid trial in Athens of bankruptcy, albeit limited. Angela Merkel pays back.She agrees to substantially beef up the European bailout fund of indebted countries, ignoring the doubts that undermine his coalition in Berlin. And it sends a "very big thank you" to his interlocutors.
Unexpected, even courageous, the device stopped Thursday night is also a leap into the unknown. The danger was that the shock wave feared a possible default "selective" in Athens come sweeping new defenses in the euro area. The Head of State has carefully avoided the word "default" but he assured that the euro area lavish in time "all the necessary guarantees." Encouragingly, the agreement was welcomed Thursday by a rising euro and a market rebound.
Reduce the debt burden
By sacrificing a principle, the summit also seeks to limit the contagion. "What we do for Greece, we will not do for any other country," warns Nicolas Sarkozy.The summit's final declaration said that "Greece is in a unique situation of gravity in the euro area (…) Therefore it requires an exceptional solution." In contrast, the other 16 euro countries "reaffirm their inflexible determination to honor their individual signature" loan. No way to drift to other parts of the chain, such as Portugal and Ireland have a drip European, or like Spain and Italy regularly shaken up the markets.
For Greece, the immediate objective is to reduce the debt burden by involving banks and private equity funds. "This is to address the root of the problem" of insolvency, said Angela Merkel. The summit adopted a "menu of options," modeled on the plan proposed by the international financial community.It was also shown Thursday in Brussels by Baudouin Prot, Director General of BNP Paribas, and Josef Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank. Voluntarily, but under strong pressure, banks must give up some money owed to them, particularly in France and Germany. Financially, the most dramatic innovation is the green light to EFSF to "intervene in the secondary market" in the clear to buy back government debt to investors. In the case of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, it would relieve the banks that hold securities impaired.
158 billion euros
Seventeen of the two, however, establish safeguards. The one at the request of Jean-Claude Trichet as the ECB will return to establish a priori the "exceptional circumstances".The other at the request of Angela Merkel, as the green light is given "by mutual agreement" of members of the rescue fund. This leaves almost a right of veto in Berlin, leaving no question of a European institution to have its way of guarantees provided by Germany
The summit amounted to 109 billion euros the amount of public funding in the second bailout of Athens. Taking into account the participation of the private bill climbs to 158 billion euros. The IMF confirmed its contribution in the evening, without specifying the amount. As expected, the euro area has decided to extend for 7.5 years "to a minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years' duration of its loans to countries in need. Meanwhile, the interest rate will be reduced to 3.5%. The summit finally evokes "a comprehensive strategy for growth and investment" in favor of Greece, through the European Structural Funds.He renounced the baptized "Marshall Plan" European and still has to quantify.
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