Brussels, 13/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Upon his arrival in Luxembourg on Monday 13 October, the President of the Eurogroup, Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that a precautionary credit line under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was “an option” to accompany Greece's exit from the eurozone financial assistance plan. “It's a bit early to say (…), before the end of the year we will have to make a decision on what will follow” the current programme, he said. The Greek government has indicated that it hoped to leave the IMF programme, which is scheduled to run until 2016, shortly afterwards.
In a document obtained by MNI and dated 1 October, two solutions are believed to be under consideration. The first is to allow Greece to leave the IMF programme early, under certain conditions, in other words a precautionary ESM credit line and reinforced surveillance of the implementation of budgetary consolidation. The second option would be a Greek “clean” exit from the programme, like Portugal and Ireland. According to MNI, the document indicates that this would not be a “desirable solution”. In that scenario, Greece would again need the eurozone until July 2015, MNI adds, quoting the document. The ESM calculations put at €30 billion Greece's financial requirements up to 2016, a proportion of which corresponds to the €10 billion from the IMF which Greece plans to waive. Lastly, according to MNI, the document anticipates that of the €11 billion earmarked for any bank requirements, just €3 billion will be needed for this purpose. However, a senior EU official explained last week that this was an envelope of bonds and that its conversion into cash would require the approval of the eurozone, the ESM and certain national parliaments.
At its national parliament on Friday, the Greek government survived a vote of confidence. (EL)