Greece: The Europeans have developed their support plan

Countries in the euro zone interlock gear. Unless dramatic turn of events, finance ministers Monday and Tuesday will give the final green light to a mechanism of financial support to Greece which is "already ready and mobilized if necessary," we learned from sources consistent with the European Commission.

This device – that Brussels refuses to call rescue plan – based on guarantees or loans which are bilateral granted by banks and institutions in different member states, though Greece requested. No precise figures are not advanced. But estimates are around 20 billion euros, an amount comparable to the maturities that Athens will soon meet.

Olli Rehn, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, has placed the issue in an interview with Le Figaro and four European newspapers."If Greece fails, the credibility of the entire European Union that will be permanently damaged, says he. The euro is not just a monetary arrangement. The euro falls first to the heart of European political project. "

Providing Athens to appeal to the IMF

The Commission can initiate the signing of the EU as a bailout. But in the new mechanism, it would pose the "stringent conditions" required to Greece in return for aid proposed by the capitals, the sources said. It is also the key to a firm commitment from Germany, alongside France in particular. Brussels is considered as a given, despite public misgivings expressed in Berlin.The Commission will also continue its work "tight fiscal monitoring, launched last month with the help of experts from the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

This new European action, coupled with drastic budget cuts mandated by George Papandreou, is designed primarily to deter attacks against the euro. The single currency is experiencing a respite from Athens has strengthened its finances. But the timing Greek refinancing foreshadowed further shocks in April or May The mechanism also aims to provide Athens to use IMF resources, politically humiliating scenario considered by Paris and Berlin in particular.

Creating a European Monetary Fund

According to Olli Rehn, the use of Greek is the priority of a series of "key decisions" that the 16 countries in the euro area and the 27 EU discuss early next week in Brussels.This is the first floor of a rigorous device which comprises two others. First, strengthening the collective monitoring of budget deficits, desired by the President of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker. Then, in the longer term, creating a "European Monetary Fund. The German Finance Minister Wolfgang Sch?uble, critical voices among the 16, provided support yesterday noticed this missing piece of the arsenal in Europe. But Berlin attaching strict conditions of financial discipline.

The Commissioner echoed him. "It's a critical lesson of the crisis, says he. We have put in place a rigorous and systematic monitoring of budgets throughout the euro area, including the medium term. " Olli Rehn is concerned about both the widening deficits and "national forecasts rough times" that are sent to Brussels."In France, the United Kingdom and Spain, he said, the debt burden grows heavy at a speed which requires that (these three countries) meet no later than 2011 and possibly as early as this years budget discipline accepted in common. "

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