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Eurozone Finance Ministers Approve Greek Bailout

BRUSSELS — Eurozone finance ministers on Friday backed a Greek bailout plan approved earlier in the day by lawmakers in Athens, overcoming months of bitterness. The finance ministers ended lengthy talks in Brussels after finessing the final elements of the deal, which grants Greece as much as 86 billion euros, or about $95 billion, during the next three years. The sticking points had included the role of the International Monetary Fund and the possibility of reducing Greece’s debt-repayment burden and the process for recapitalizing the country’s banks. “The past six months have been difficult,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission , the European Union executive body that helped broker the deal, said in a statement. “Together, we have looked into the abyss. But today, I am glad to say that all sides have respected their commitments.” In a statement, the managing director of the I.M.F., Christine Lagarde, […]

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Dismal Debt Outlook for Greece Raises Pressure on European Creditors

ATHENS—A bleak debt forecast for Greece is raising pressure on Europe to grant the country softer loan terms, exacerbating tensions among its creditors as they try to seal a new Greek rescue deal within days. The new forecast, prepared by European Union officials in a document seen by The Wall Street Journal, predicts sharply higher Greek debt than Europe had previously hoped and shows just how far Greece is from escaping its marathon crisis. The assessment, which calls for “debt-mitigating measures,” increases the likelihood that its creditors, led by Germany, will have to allow Athens significantly more time to repay its huge bailout debt, European policy makers say. That conclusion is politically painful for Berlin but now looks mathematically inescapable, these officials say. The worsening outlook stood in contrast to some rare good news from Athens: Government data showed the Greek economy grew in the second quarter, defying expectations […]

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Greece, lenders locked in marathon talks for bailout deal

Greece and its international lenders were locked in marathon overnight talks to seal a multibillion-euro bailout deal on Tuesday, racing against a countdown to European Central Bank debt repayments falling due in days. The indebted country is hoping to wrap up a deal for 86 billion euros ($94.75 billion) in fresh loans by Tuesday so it can get parliamentary and other approvals for aid to flow by Aug. 20, when a 3.2 billion euro debt payment is due to the ECB. "We are going into the final round of talks, looking at the Memorandum of Understanding from beginning to end," a senior Greek government official said during a brief break in talks in Athens, referring to terms of the bailout accord. The latest round of negotiations started early on Monday afternoon. An agreement would mark the end of a painful chapter on bailout talks for Greece, which fought against […]

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Greece Says Bailout Terms Reached

Greece and international creditors have reached an agreement on the terms needed to provide the country with a third bailout worth up to €86 billion ($94.76 billion), although some details remain unresolved, a Greek government official said Tuesday. After talks that ran for more than 18 hours, government spokesman Theodoros Mihopoulos said in a tweet that “negotiations have been completed. There are some details left.” It wasn’t immediately clear what the outstanding details concerned or whether creditors, eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, agree that the deal is complete. Other eurozone countries must ratify any agreement between Greece and the international institutions overseeing its bailout program. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A German finance ministry spokesman said he couldn’t yet confirm an overall deal. Earlier Tuesday, German Deputy Finance Minister Jens Spahn said negotiations were continuing in […]

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Greek PM Tsipras under pressure over covert Syriza drachma plan reports

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, Greece July 24, 2015. Some members of Greece’s leftist government wanted to raid central bank reserves and hack taxpayer accounts to prepare a return to the drachma, according to reports on Sunday that highlighted the chaos in the ruling Syriza party. It is not clear how seriously the plans, attributed to former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, were considered by the government and both ministers were sacked earlier this month. However the reports have been seized on by opposition parties who have demanded an explanation. The reports came at the end of a week of fevered speculation over what Syriza hardliners had in mind as an alternative to the tough bailout terms that Tsipras reluctantly accepted to keep Greece in the euro. Around a quarter of the party’s 149 lawmakers rebelled over the plan to pass sweeping […]

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Greek PM keeps lid on party rebellion to pass bailout vote

Anti-austerity demonstrators hold up a giant Greek flag in front of parliament in Athens, July 22, 2015. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras contained a rebellion in his left-wing Syriza party to win parliamentary approval on Thursday for a second package of reforms required to start talks on a financial rescue deal. A first set of reforms that focused largely on tax hikes and budget discipline triggered a rebellion in Syriza last week and passed only thanks to votes from pro-EU opposition parties. The bill that lawmakers voted on early Thursday covered rules for dealing with failed banks and speeding up the justice system – two more conditions set by the euro zone and IMF to open negotiations on an 86 billion euro rescue loan. The legislation easily passed with the backing of 230 votes in the 300-seat chamber, once again due to opposition support. But 36 Syriza deputies – […]

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As Banks in Greece Reopen, New Sales Taxes Add to Confusion

Photo A National Bank employee opens the door of a branch in Athens on Monday morning. Greek banks had been closed for three weeks. Credit Milos Bicanski/Getty Images ATHENS — Greek banks opened their doors on Monday for the first time in three weeks. But with strict limits still in place on the flow of money, the battered economy was far from returning to normal. As Athens scrambles to meet creditors’ demands in exchange for continuing to negotiate a proposed bailout package worth up to 86 billion euros, or about $93 billion, Monday was shaping up as the beginning of what could be a long economic slog. Even though Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called over the weekend for a swift resumption of the bailout negotiations, the talks could take months. The Athens stock exchange, which stopped trading on June 29, remained closed on Monday, with no word of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple