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At the press conference following the first meeting he chaired, newly-elected Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem stated that ministers had discussed the economic situation, on the basis of an outline by the Commission of its forthcoming winter forecast (to be published on 22 February).
Regarding the situation in Cyprus, ministers confirmed that they would like an independent assessment of the implementation of rules for financial institutions. Once this is satisfactorily completed, the Eurogroup could look forward to reaching a decision on a programme for Cyprus in March. The Greek programme, he said, was on track, and in relation to Ireland, he took note of "substantial improvements in terms of market access".
As regards the ESM, ministers continued the discussion on direct recapitalisation of banks. "In order to preserve the ESM capacity for other instruments and the ESM high credit rating, we agreed to explore the possibility of defining limits for the various ESM instruments", said Mr Dijsselbloem. He also said that ministers decided to explore options to attract private capital alongside ESM capital injections in order to maximise the direct recapitalisation capacity. The aim is to finalise the operational framework for the direct recapitalisation instrument by June, as requested by heads of state or government.