March 13, 2011
For weeks, European officials had promised that a “grand bargain” of reforms to shore up eurozone finances would be agreed at the end of March.
The 17 eurozone heads of government surprised many, however, including some within their own ranks, by cutting a deal on almost all the important elements in the early hours of Saturday during an emergency summit in Brussels.
Leaders committed to increasing the lending capacity of the current rescue fund – the European financial stability facility – from about €250bn to its full, headline level of €440bn ($610bn), making it able to bail out several more eurozone countries should the debt crisis continue to spread.
A permanent, post-2013 fund – the European Stability Mechanism – will be able to lend up to €500bn, likely to be achieved through stepped-up guarantees from triple-A states and paid-in capital from those with weaker balance sheets.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment