BELGIUM: Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker says there is no deal yet and the meeting will resume in six days

Record ID: 862772

  • Title: BELGIUM: Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker says there is no deal yet and the meeting will resume in six days
  • Date: 21st November 2012
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NOVEMBER 21, 2012) (REUTERS) JOURNALISTS HOLDING UP RECORDING EQUIPMENT BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NOVEMBER 21, 2012) (EBS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROGROUP CHAIRMAN AND PRIME MINISTER OF LUXEMBOURG JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, SAYING: "We are very much impressed by what Greece has done over the last weeks, including the last days. Greece was implementing all prior actions which have been recommended to Greece, so Greece has delivered, now it is up to us to deliver." JUNCKER LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 6th December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAY8AMX9229ZW8L4G8A1NTAB4B
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  • Story Text: Greece's international lenders failed for the second week running on Wednesday (November 21) to agree how to get the country's debt down to a sustainable level and will have a third go at resolving their most intractable problem in six days' time.
    After nearly 12 hours of talks through the night during which myriad options were discussed, euro zone finance ministers, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank failed to reach a consensus, without which emergency aid cannot be disbursed to Athens.
    "I'm a little bit disappointed but I have to admit that the technical issues are of such a complicated nature in kind that some precise calculations have to be made. This will be done in the next coming days. It was not possible to have these calculations being done in a proper way tonight," Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters.
    "Greece has delivered, now it is up to us to deliver," he said.
    Nonetheless, the euro extended its fall against the dollar in response.
    A document prepared for the meeting and seen by Reuters declared that Greece's debt cannot be cut to 120 percent of GDP by 2020, the level deemed sustainable by the IMF, unless euro zone member states write off a portion of their loans to Greece.
    The view of the IMF, which has played a role in both Greek bailouts so far, is critical since it provides international legitimacy and credibility for the efforts the euro zone is making. If the IMF were to withdraw its support for the bailout programmes, it could have a deeply damaging market impact.
    It remains possible that Lagarde could provide further wiggle room, but she is believed to favour the idea of euro zone member states taking a writedown on some of the loans extended to Greece in order to stick to the 120 percent in 2020 goal.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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