Le Monde | • Updated | By
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be there the next actor or spectator rescue of Greece? Thursday, July 30, the organization of Washington said that his participation in the next aid package for Greece was pending. It will remain without commitment “concrete” Europeans to alleviate the debt of Athens.
The threat has sparked fear in Brussels and especially in Germany where the presence of the IMF is deemed essential. Ongoing discussions focus on granting 86 billion euros in Athens, the third bailout of the country since 2010.
Creditor Athens like the European countries and the European Central Bank ( ECB) the IMF requires the restructuring of Greek debt is explicitly mentioned. He also claims that Athens adopts a package “complete” reforms, told AFP a senior official of the institution. “Difficult decisions are required on both sides” and “The IMF will participate once these two conditions are met” , warned the source said on condition of anonymity, however, ensure that “take time “ and doubtless several months.
The organization can not lend to a country if its debt is considered ” sustainable “. The claim of Athens can meet the IMF criteria that if the Europeans provide debt relief “important” is repeated again on Wednesday, Christine Lagarde. “A debt restructuring is inevitable component” has insisted the IMF chief under pressure from member countries of the IMF board, annoyed this support to Greece considered disproportionate.
The Fund is weary of financing a country unable to meet its deadlines. Athens How indeed can it assume debt estimated at 177% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014, while the economy is anemic and failed state?
L the deadline of August 20
The IMF, as well as many experts, including the ECB, has been campaigning for several months for a Greek debt restructuring. But this requirement has so far met with the intransigence of Germany and some European countries. Chancellor Angela Merkel and her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, do not imagine swallow this idea to the German taxpayer and even less in the Bundestag. A moral issue.
The ultimatum IMF therefore puts Berlin in trouble. Especially as time is pressing. Negotiations on the next program should lead by the August 20, when Athens has to repay 3.2 billion euros at the ECB. Without agreement, the country will, once again, threatened bankruptcy.
For now, the IMF continues to be part of the discussions so far judged “constructive” , according to Mina Andreeva, a spokesman for the Commission. But the climate is heavy. The political situation is tense in Greece.
Alexis Tsipras, the Prime Minister of the radical left Syriza is challenged within his own party, considered a traitor by some of his troops to have accepted the July 13 new austerity measures in exchange for international financing. If he remains popular, the young prime minister no longer has a majority of 151 MPs (300) to apply the new agreement without the support of the three opposition parties.
Read also: In Greece, Alexis Tsipras of Syriza slingers face
M. Tsipras strives to discipline these slingers and seems to have almost won his bet: Thursday, the majority of the Central Committee of Syriza voted in favor of holding an extraordinary congress in September, the Prime Minister approving the proposal to set a common position on the agreement with creditors. M.Tsipras think and preserve the unity of his party
Read also:. Greece: Syriza will hold an extraordinary congress in September
The suspicion of a plot hatched by Germany
The shadow cast by the IMF could sour the talks and steer Germany. In Athens, the left release does not exclude that this is actually a plot hatched by Mr Schäuble. By being intransigent on Greek debt, pushing de facto IMF it imposes the same time, the intractable German Finance Minister would resurface the idea of a “Grexit”, a Greek exit from the area euro. A “Grexit” he seems to dream.
To overcome the obstacle, Greece could save time. In order not to address immediately the thorny issue of debt, the IMF could not participate in the Greek aid plan in a second time within a year. In the meantime, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is only responsible for financing about 50 billion euros. Only in a second phase to the establishment of a spread plan over three years that the IMF would ride on board.
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