Brussels, 10/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - Ireland's lenders will continue to monitor the country, which is about to exit the aid programme, until it has repaid 75% of its debt to them.
Ireland is now subject to the normal stability and growth pact and two-pack procedures. Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn said that the troika would go to Ireland twice a year to monitor the economic, budget and financial situation until at least 75% of the bailout has been paid back, but no new strings would be attached. Klaus Regling, head of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) said the EFSF had to protect its resources and ensure each quarter that countries exiting the aid programme were able to repay the loans they had taken out. He said the EFSF would continue to travel to Ireland to monitor the country, but would have a reduced mandate. Ireland has 22 years to pay back the bailout loans.
Endorsing the troika's 12th monitoring mission (European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank), the Eurogroup said: “The imminent completion of the Irish programme is a proof that our strategy is now delivering results. We note that the EFSF has already completed its disbursements to Ireland, reaching the total amount of the approved financial assistance package (€17.7 billion). We now look forward to the final EFSM disbursement of €0.8 billion and final IMF disbursement of €0.6 billion to be decided in the coming days respectively by the Commission and the IMF Executive Board”. Rehn said the exit would be easier in that exchange rates are fixed through the euro, a comment he intended as a semi-veiled message to countries in receipt of aid where there is a lot of political wrangling.
Before deciding to quit the exit programme in one go, Ireland did consider requesting preventative credit from the European stability mechanism (ESM) (see EUROPE 10964), which would have reduced the yield on its bonds, but the government did not want the extra strings that would have been attached to the aid and preferred to send out a message to its people of mission accomplished. (MB/transl.fl)