Euro zone finance ministers, the European Central Bank and the European Commission will hold a teleconference on Sunday to further detail how a safety net for debt-stricken Greece would work, European officials said on Saturday.
Greece has not asked to trigger the EU/IMF aid mechanism agreed last month to help it as a last resort if needed, but the talks will aim for the safety net to be ready if required, officials said.
Markets pounded Greek bonds and banking stocks this week, driving the debt-stricken euro zone member’s borrowing costs to new highs and pushing it closer to tapping the safety net.
“There will be a teleconference on Sunday on Greece in the usual Eurogroup composition,” Guy Schuller, a spokesman for Juncker, said. “Greece has not asked for help, but you have to be ready if they do.”
Spanish government sources said the teleconference was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. BST (1200 GMT) and would discuss concrete mechanisms of aid for Greece.
Juncker and European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn would probably hold a news conference on Sunday at 1400 GMT in Brussels, Schuller said.
Greece considers it is important to detail the EU-IMF aid mechanism but believes it will not need to use it, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said in an interview published on Saturday.
“The aid mechanism is a very important safety net. We have repeatedly said that it was crucial to create and detail it, but we hope and believe that Greece will not use it,” Papaconstantinou told Realnews newspaper.
The euro zone teleconference will take place just two days before Greece auctions a total of 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of six- and 12-month T-bills on April 13, but neither Schuller nor Greek officials would not comment if the timing was linked to the auction.
“Until now all (bond) issues have been oversubscribed, that shows that despite the turbulence in bond markets there is interest and trust from investors,” Papaconstantinou said in the newspaper interview, conducted on Friday. “Our target remains to have better rates and borrowing terms.”
Euro zone countries have pledged to lend to Greece if the debt-stricken country cannot finance itself in the market.
Deputy finance ministers and central bankers of the 16 countries sharing the European single currency decided last Thursday that any emergency loans would be made on terms almost identical to standard IMF bailouts if Greece needed them.
April 19th, 2010 at 4:15 am
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