Brussels, 09/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Tuesday 9 December that the market should feel secure with Greece, as the Greek authorities seem to know where they are going.
His comments follow a 12.8% fall at close on the same day of the Athens Stock Exchange and a rise in yields on Greek bonds to 7.69% after the country's government decided to postpone the presidential elections until the end of the year. If the candidate fielded by the coalition government, Stavros Dimas, does not receive 180 votes, the country would be forced to hold early general elections. The coalition has 155 parliamentarians and can rely on 30 non-aligned MPs to get the vote through without a hitch, but the Syriza party that is hostile to the bailout programme is ahead in the polls. It is a democratic decision that I cannot comment on, said Moscovici. He said that if the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, has chosen this route, it is because he is confident about his ability to get the necessary votes.
The commissioner said that the decisions taken by the Eurogroup on Monday showed that it had confidence in the work and efforts made by the Greeks. When Athens makes the official request, the Eurogroup will respond favourably to a request for an eleven-month extension to the programme, explained head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Netherlands, on Monday 8 December.
After talks of around two hours, there has been a shift in the cursor between Greece and Finland, the first wanting a short extension to the aid programme, and the second a six-month extension, both because of looming elections in 2015. The Eurogroup said that despite progress on the ground, not enough had been done to conclude the troika monitoring mission, a step required before the end of the Greek aid programme and the payment of the final batch of aid.
The troika was due to prepare a factual progress report by 9 December and return to Athens that same day. It will be for the Council's working group to report to the member states so that they can get their parliaments to endorse the extension to the Greek aid programme in order for a decision to be taken before 31 December 2014, the date on which the programme expires. Greece will then have to confirm its commitment to a series of actions.
The extension will enable Greece not to lose the final batch of aid, €1.8 billion from the EFSF. A parallel request also needs to be made to extend the duration of the €10bn buffer set aside under the Greek HFSF financial stability fund. In two months' time, when Greece requests a precautionary credit line (ECCL), the buffer may be used as a credit line, but this would require the approval of the eurozone nations whose parliaments require prior approval to be made. (EL)