Eurozone leaders will inject more than €250bn (£207bn) into the single currency's protection fund in a desperate effort to prevent contagion from Greece, it emerged on Friday. Finance ministers will agree the package in a fortnight, although it will still leave the insurance scheme around €1.3tn short of City estimates of the firewall needed to protect Italy and Spain from a panic that would follow if Greece went bust. Officials said the main protection fund, the temporary €440bn European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), will be increased to around €700bn, before the introduction next year of the permanent European Stability Mechanism. The extra funds are expected to be in place by the summer to insure against a lending freeze by private investors. Brussels has dismissed estimates that a €2tn fund would be needed to provide sufficient confidence in the eurozone. Officials believe a compromise between Germany and France, which wanted to put in place a bigger firewall, will safeguard the euro's future. The German government has lobbied for the fund to be restricted to protect its taxpayers from potential liabilities, which will mostly fall on Berlin.German officials believe the scale of the fund will be sufficient to ringfence Greece and allow it to go bust without spreading fears of contagion to other countries.
Access Investments-Building Awareness - European Union-ROMANIA
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Eurozone leaders will inject more than €250bn (£207bn) into the single currency's protection fund in a desperate effort to prevent contagion from Greece, it emerged on Friday. Finance ministers will agree the package in a fortnight, although it will still leave the insurance scheme around €1.3tn short of City estimates of the firewall needed to protect Italy and Spain from a panic that would follow if Greece went bust. Officials said the main protection fund, the temporary €440bn European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), will be increased to around €700bn, before the introduction next year of the permanent European Stability Mechanism. The extra funds are expected to be in place by the summer to insure against a lending freeze by private investors. Brussels has dismissed estimates that a €2tn fund would be needed to provide sufficient confidence in the eurozone. Officials believe a compromise between Germany and France, which wanted to put in place a bigger firewall, will safeguard the euro's future. The German government has lobbied for the fund to be restricted to protect its taxpayers from potential liabilities, which will mostly fall on Berlin.German officials believe the scale of the fund will be sufficient to ringfence Greece and allow it to go bust without spreading fears of contagion to other countries.
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4 comments:
Not for long this fear: I've spoken with scores of young Germans who reject the idea of timeless guilt for the crimes committed several decades ago ... the culture shift of the decade, including the unabashed patriotism during the 2006 World Cup, suggests the "Guilt Bill" Germans have been stumping up for since the early 1950s is about to expire ... the constant reminders of the hideous past come more from here in the UK than they do from anywhere in Germany. It's our obsession, not theirs.
I've lived in Germany, got numerous German friends and even have German relatives, and this is a very good, nuanced and accurate article. I wish more people in Britain could see Germany as the complex and 3-dimensional place that it really is. Thank you.
But Germany has not forgotten. Goliath is still scared of his own strength.
Well that's good. I'm a child who grew up in the 70s, with grandparents who fought in the war, and parents who griped constantly about sweet rationing going on well into the 50s. So, for me, the war was not that long ago... and I'm not that old.
I wish the English weren't so high and mighty too. And the French, like you say. The English have messed up. We are bunch of call-centre hopefuls with a washed-up aristocracy.
The Germans do have somethig to be proud of: their industry, their unions, their social democracy. I am glad they have not forgotten. For that alone, I can say I am glad it worked out for that Germany. I hope they never forget.
But Germany has not forgotten. Goliath is still scared of his own strength.
Well that's good. I'm a child who grew up in the 70s, with grandparents who fought in the war, and parents who griped constantly about sweet rationing going on well into the 50s. So, for me, the war was not that long ago... and I'm not that old.
I wish the English weren't so high and mighty too. And the French, like you say. The English have messed up. We are bunch of call-centre hopefuls with a washed-up aristocracy.
The Germans do have somethig to be proud of: their industry, their unions, their social democracy. I am glad they have not forgotten. For that alone, I can say I am glad it worked out for that Germany. I hope they never forget.
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