Brussels, 05/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 5 March, the Ecofin Council decided to ask the troika (European Commission, ECB and IMF) to present a proposal to Ireland and Portugal on the best way to answer these two countries' requests to extend the maturity of the loans they have been granted as part of their respective financial bailout plans. A definitive decision will be taken by the informal Ecofin Council in April.
The extension concerns both the loans of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and of the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) - a fund managed by the Commission on behalf of the EU. It will enable Dublin and Lisbon to lessen the strain on their finances by spreading debt repayment over a longer time, and it will enable them to recover full access to the markets.
According to European Commissioner for the Euro Olli Rehn, it is very much in the interests both of these two countries and of the EU to regain total autonomy with regard to refinancing. The previous day, the Eurogroup had hailed the good performance of the two programmes despite a difficult macro-economic climate. The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, had spoken of his country's request for an average extension of the maturity of his loans of 15 years, although he imagined that he would not be able to obtain such a long period of time. (EL and MB/transl.fl)