Voting will take place in the afternoon in the Athens Parliament, which will have to give the go-ahead to the package of measures developed by Prime Minister Papandreou, together with experts from the IMF, the EU and the ECB. Yesterday signs of optimism arrived from the various parties involved, with the expectation of approval by a large majority, even with the backing of the Greek opposition.
The European finance ministers, a few hours after the vote, asked Athens to introduce new austerity measures, as a condition for giving the green light to the extension of the 12 billion aid package. The Eurogroup has set an extraordinary meeting for July 3 and by that date the Greek parliament will have to approve the new plan. European ministers expect the new funds (the next tranche in the framework of the 110 billion euro rescue plan provided by the European Union and the Monetary Fund) to be paid by July. Greece said it needed the loans by that time to avoid default.
Meanwhile, the finance ministers of the Eurogroup decided yesterday that the bonds issued as part of the intervention project in favor of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, totaling 500 billion intended for the ESM, will not enjoy privileged credit status. A choice that could facilitate the return of these three countries to the bond market once the emergency phase has ended. The ESF fund, which will replace the current ESM mechanism, will become operational from mid-2013.
