The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) is undergoing meetings all day today and Greek debt is the main agenda. Euro zone finance ministers reiterated their view that Greece must first act before receiving additional loans. EU officials are delaying their decision on extending the next tranche of Greek bailout funds to early July. They said Greece will first have to pass new laws on fiscal reforms and start privatization of government agencies before a final decision is made on a further 12 billion euros in loans.
ECOFIN is the Eurozone’s broadest financial decision making body. The council coordinates economic policies of the 27 member states, and their decisions can have a widespread effect on the Eurozone’s economic health.
Before launching a second day of meetings on Greece, the EU ministers indicated that the next tranche of EU-IMF-ECB aid will most likely be paid by mid-July, which will prevent a default by Greece. However, they said Athens had to show progress first on plans to cut spending, raise taxes and begin privatizations of government agencies.
“We are waiting for a decision from the Greek parliament. We are calling for not just the government, but the Greek opposition to support the plan,” Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said before the meetings resumed in Luxembourg.
“We are increasing the pressure because there are precedents,” he said, referring to Greece’s previous failures to meet commitments and the issuing of false statistics. “We have to be sure that everyone is going to support the plan.”
Meanwhile, as the ECOFIN meetings are going on, anti-austerity demonstrators are gathered in Athens to protest new austerity measures while the Greek parliament debated these highly unpopular measures.
On Sunday, Prime Minister George Papandreou asked Greeks to support the austerity steps and avoid a “catastrophic” default, appealing for the nation to accept measures that certainly in the short-term will make life harder for most citizens.
“The consequences of a violent bankruptcy or exit from the euro would be immediately catastrophic for households, the banks and the country’s credibility,” Papandreou said at the start of a confidence debate on his new crisis cabinet.
By clicking “Continue”, you agree to the default cookie settings on our website.
Trading Point uses cookies to ensure that we provide you with the best experience while visiting our website. Some of the cookies are needed to provide essential features, such as login sessions, and cannot be disabled. Other cookies help us improve our website’s performance and your experience through personalising content, providing social media features and analysing our traffic. Such cookies may also include third-party cookies, which might track your use of our website. You may change your cookie settings at any time.
Read more, or change your cookie settings.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small data files. When you visit a website, the website sends the cookie to your computer. Your computer stores it in a file located inside your web browser.
Cookies do not transfer viruses or malware to your computer. Because the data in a cookie does not change when it travels back and forth, it has no way to affect how your computer runs, but they act more like logs (i.e. they record user activity and remember stateful information) and they get updated every time you visit a website.
We may obtain information about you by accessing cookies, sent by our website. Different types of cookies keep track of different activities. For example, session cookies are used only when a person is actively navigating a website. Once you leave the website, the session cookie disappears.
Why are cookies useful?
We use functional cookies to analyse how visitors use our website, as well as track and improve our website’s performance and function. This allows us to provide a high-quality customer experience by quickly identifying and fixing any issues that may arise. For example, we might use cookies to keep track of which website pages are most popular and which method of linking between website pages is most effective. The latter also helps us to track if you were referred to us by another website and improve our future advertising campaigns.
Another use of cookies is to store your log in sessions, meaning that when you log in to the Members Area to deposit funds, a "session cookie" is set so that the website remembers that you have already logged in. If the website did not set this cookie, you will be asked for your login and password on each new page as you progress through the funding process.
In addition, functional cookies, for example, are used to allow us to remember your preferences and identify you as a user, ensure your information is secure and operate more reliably and efficiently. For example, cookies save you the trouble of typing in your username every time you access our trading platform, and recall your preferences, such as which language you wish to see when you log in.
Here is an overview of some of the functions our cookies provide us with:
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses analytical cookies placed on your computer, to help the website analyze a user's use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) may be transmitted to and stored by Google on their servers. Google may use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties, where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on behalf of Google. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held. By using this website, you give your consent to Google to process data about you in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
Change Settings
Please select which types of cookies you want to be stored on your device.
We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.
Read more or change your cookie settings.