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AS THE GREEK government faces a crucial vote this week on its controversial and highly unpopular €28bn austerity package, other European leaders are preparing back-up plans in case of a Greek debt default.
Athens must pass the package before accessing the next €12bn batch of its current bailout package – and before a second bailout can be finalised. Greece badly needs that €12bn to make its loan repayments next month.
The Financial Times Deutschland reports that Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said in an interview with a German newspaper that the EU is preparing for the worst, in case the Greek parliament rejects the austerity plan and ends up defaulting on its debt.
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Schäuble said that the EU needs to ensure that “the infection risk for the financial system” resulting from a Greek default would be contained.
Greek Prime Minister Papandreou has already suggested that a second bailout, which EU leaders recently agreed is required, will reach in or around the amount of its current €110bn package.
Britain’s prime minister David Cameron has vowed to oppose any use of British taxpayer funds in another Greek bailout and has apparently secured the support of Germany’s Angela Merkel on the issue. Today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said French banks are prepared to support Greece by allowing a significant debt rollover.
Sarkozy’s announcement could encourage other banks to pitch in and help avoid a Greek default.
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What deposits? I wish I had been able to hang on to my meagre savings, but they were depleted long ago. Not everyone is fortunate to have funds nowadays, for a myriad of reasons.
The loolahs in the ECB and EU (ably abetted by Noonan and Lenihan) have been in denial about numbers. Given the scale of debt in Greece, it is not possible for them to pay it back ever, there is no circumstance that will allow this to happen. It seems that deposits are flowing out of Greece at a tremendous rates, causing cash shortages in their banks. When the panic hits Greece, watch it follow on here.
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