|
Commission signs three-year ESM stability support programme for Greece
The European Commission signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Greece for a new stability support programme. View Article |
Eurogroup statement on the ESM programme for Greece
The Eurogroup welcomes the agreement that has been reached between Greece and the European Institutions, with input from the IMF, on the policy conditionality underlying the new ESM macroeconomic adjustment programme. View Article |
European Council: Remarks by J. Dijsselbloem following the Eurogroup meeting
(14 August) Eurogroup president explained the terms of the ESM programme for Greece, stating that its full amount is of €86bn and that debt sustainability can be achieved through a reform programme, which will assure further financial support from the IMF. View Article |
Reuters: Greece deal leaves euro intact but fragile
With Greece close to getting a new bailout, the eurozone at least looks more robust than it did. The risk is less about the exit of a peripheral state, and more about the economic rifts between core members. View Article |
CEPS: Greece’s poor growth prospects
With the third rescue package dealing with the immediate liquidity issues in the works, and concerns being voiced by the IMF as well as other actors, Greece would face strong headwinds in its effort to ‘grow solvent’. View Article |
VoxEU: Greek debt sustainability - The devil is in the tails
Greek debt is highly unsustainable, but sustainability can be restored with a nominal haircut of 50%, interest rate concessions of 70%, or a rescheduling of debt to a weighted average maturity of 20 years. Greece and its creditors should ‘bet on the future’ and embrace debt relief. View Article |
VoxEU: Back from the brink - Policy reform and debt relief in Greece
This column takes through the details of Greek debt, what relief options are open to Greece, and what the likely consequences of relief might be for all parties. View Article |
Bruegel: Greece’s debt burden can and must be lightened within the Euro
There will be no confidence and no growth in Greece without a solution to the debt problem. The authors suggest tying the interest rates on the loans to the growth rate of the Greek economy, together with a conditional debt moratorium. View Article |
VoxEU: Iceland, Greece and political hectoring
In Iceland and in Greece the heavy pressure from foreign countries and the hectoring from their public officials was counterproductive during the crisis, hardening the opposition to any settlement. View Article |
Financial Times: Democracy at the heart of fight for Greece
The Greek referendum was a test case of the euro itself. Monetary union and democracy are not incompatible, but European policy is premised on the opposite view. Without a change in approach, it must lead to failure. View Article |
Bertelsmann Stiftung: Money or Democracy? Greece and the Euro Dilemma
The negotiations on the third bailout package for Greece are still going on, but the euro area has already paid a high price for it. What in fact is Greece actually supposed to be doing, and what does all this mean with regard to sovereignty and democracy? View Article |
The Guardian: Left-wing Eurosceptics are wrong to use Greece as a reason to leave the EU
If the perception that Greece has been bullied into accepting austerity by other eurozone countries, led by Germany, takes root, it could have severe consequences for Britain's EU membership. View Article |
Open Europe: A second bridge loan for Greece on the horizon
With little clear progression in the negotiations between Greece and its creditors it is looking increasingly likely that a second bridge loan could be needed. View Article |
CEPS: Addressing the immediate needs of the Greek banks
The Greek banking sector unquestionably needs an infusion of capital, but the level largely depends on the stringency of the capital requirements applied. View Article |
VoxEU: Lessons from Cyprus that did not make it to Greece
This column examines the lessons that could have been drawn from the Cypriot experience by Greece in its recent attempt to seal a bailout deal. Specifically, lengthy negotiations offer little benefit for debtor countries, and capital controls, once implemented, cannot be easily undone. View Article |
Peterson Institute: A Greek Election that Should Strengthen Tsipras’s Hand
Greek voters will be going to the polls on September, this time to elect a new Parliament in the wake of the €86 billion bailout accord with European creditors. But the most likely outcome for this election will be to strengthen Tsipras’s hand in carrying out the tough terms of the bailout. View Article |
CEPS: Why Greece declined a euro holiday
Why did the Greek government concede to terms that not only controverted its own promises, but also closely resembled those that voters had overwhelmingly rejected in a popular referendum barely a week earlier? The answer may be more political than economic. View Article |
Bruegel: Wolfgang Schäuble, Debt Relief, and the Future of the Eurozone
The German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble says Greece cannot receive debt relief from European creditors because they are forbidden by European treaties to grant relief. But this cannot be true: Once a loan has been made, any lender exposes himself to a default risk. View Article |
Financial Times: Berlin must lead Europe towards closer union
The crisis is not just about the right level of sales taxes on islands in the Aegean, Germans’ capacity for empathy, or even the future of the euro. It is about the future of European integration itself — and of German leadership in Europe. View Article |
Financial Times: European federalism is not dead yet
It may be premature to write the obituary of European federalism just yet. If it is to happen at all, further integration will be driven by economic necessity. View Article |
Reuters: Eurozone doesn’t need political union
France’s President Francois Hollande has called for a eurozone government, with its own budget, which would be accountable to the people via a new eurozone parliament. But such an ambitious centralisation of economic power is neither needed nor desirable. Nor is it politically achievable. View Article |
EurActiv: Towards a European Commission with fewer competencies for more power?
Turning the Commission into an elected and accountable European government would both legitimise the institution in the eyes of the citizens and take some powers out of the executive’s hands. View Article |
Open Europe: How does the UK vision for EU reform fit with the Eurozone’s challenges?
The Eurozone should use the UK agenda as an opportunity to address the need for more flexibility, economic competitiveness and democratic accountability. View Article |