Frankfurt (AFP) – The new Greek leaders Wednesday continued their European tour with a passage by the ECB in Frankfurt from Greek finance minister came to ask what “keep your head above water” in the coming months to avoid “bankruptcy.”
Yanis Varoufakis spent a little over an hour at the headquarters of the institution in the German financial capital, said a journalist from AFP. At the exit, he said he had “fruitful discussions” with the ECB President Mario Draghi and removing “a great encouragement for the future.”
The central bank plays a pivotal role in the race against the Greek state with financial default. “The ECB should support our banks so that we can keep our heads above water,” urged Mr. Varoufakis in an interview with the German weekly Die Zeit, published on Wednesday, where he admits to being “Finance Minister of a failed state. “
Greek banks are the main buyers of Greek bonds, for which the country is short term finance. And that’s basically the ECB through two mechanisms of loans – one “ordinary” conditioning international aid program which Athens profit, and other emergency – which supplies the Greek banks with liquidity.
– “Interim Financing” –
According to the Financial Times the ECB, the Governing Council meets on Wednesday afternoon, is reluctant to raise the ceiling of collateral it accepts in exchange for these loans, which would allow Greece to have a free hand in the coming months.
Athens claims “interim financing” until June 1, said Mr. Varoufakis to Die Zeit, when he hopes to have an agreement with its European partners on the future of the debt and a possible new aid – which Athens believes to mimic not need. The current program expires at the end of the month.
Christian Schulz, an economist at Berenberg, Mr Draghi is unlikely to give in to Greek demands. “The message is clear without an agreement with the euro area, the ECB will stop supporting Greek banks with liquidity,” he said.
The markets seemed to prove him right, the European stock markets, although oriented Tuesday is displaying in the red late Wednesday morning.
Mr. Varoufakis himself acknowledged at the end of the interview he had discussed with Mr Draghi “constraints, rules, regulations and the process” by which the ECB pays his helpers, implying that the President of the ECB was little inclined to overstep the rules.
Meanwhile in Brussels, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is received Wednesday by the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, then by the European Council, Donald Tusk. He will then leave for Paris to meet with French President Francois Hollande earlier this afternoon
-. Support for Obama –
Mr. Tspiras and Varoufakis, seeking to convince the euro area the need to reduce the burden of Greek debt and refocus economic policy of Europe, were in Rome on Tuesday, as part of the self-promotion tour which has already led Mr. Varoufakis in Paris and London.
The Minister is expected in Berlin on Thursday morning for a meeting with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble. This will be the first direct bilateral contact between Berlin and Athens since the political change in Greece, which brought to power a government determined to end the austerity policies of his predecessors under pressure from international creditors.
The minister, who can boast the support of US President Barack Obama has promised to bring to the table next week its concrete proposals at a meeting of finance ministers of the euro zone, the Eurogroup , to be held on 11 February.
A proposal is already in the public domain, which would see Athens exchange a portion of its debt outstanding against bonds indexed to the growth rate of the Greek economy . Europeans currently little reaction to this suggestion.
“We are waiting for proposals and after we enter into the discussions,” said Tuesday prudent Chancellor Angela Merkel
The day before Matteo Renzi, president of Italy, had certainly shown to Mr. Tsipras warm and confident in a solution with the European institutions, but acknowledged that he had “not discuss the merits of the solutions proposed by the Greek government” .
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