Brussels, 20/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Greece may well not need extra aid at the end of the second bailout, the head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, told the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee on Thursday 20 February.
Dijsselbloem said that the decision about whether to apply for new aid would be taken in the second half of 2014, at the end of the current eurozone aid plan. The MEPs said that the Eurogroup needed to change tack on the question of the viability of the Greek public debt.
Dijsselbloem brushed aside criticism of Germany's strong economy: “We now say Germany's economy is very strong and that is now a problem. I don't believe so”. He regretted the Euroean Central Bank's OMT programme for purchasing unlimited amounts of sovreign bonds subject to certain conditions was the subject of debate (see EUROPE 11014).
SRM. The MEPs criticised the complexity of the decision-making process recommended by the Council of Ministers for the new single resolution mechanism (SRM). At an institutional trialogue meeting on Wednesday on the SRM, the European Commission illustrated this complexity for the negotiators. Using simulations from actual bank collapses, the Commission said that, if a decision to wind up a bank were submitted to the Council of Ministers on a Friday, then a decision could not be taken until the following Wednesday. The future Bank Resolution Board would be required to decide on the resolution process in virtually all cases, contradicting the Council's claims. Dijsselbloem admitted that there was plenty of room for manoeuvre to improve the process and a number of countries submitted suggested improvements at the recent Ecofin Council (see EUROPE 11021). (EL and MB/transl.fl)