ATHENS | via MacroPolis | The first round of the new review of Greece’s Economic Adjustment Program (EAP) is kicking off in Paris today and will last until September 4. The IMF spokesman has recently clarified that the aim of these meetings is to “discuss the way forward on the forthcoming review and is expected to be followed by the full mission to Athens in late September” for the full review.
ATHENS | By Yiannis Mouzakis via The Agora | No matter what overall opinion you have of the Greeks, you really ought to hand it to us for tolerance. Over the last year and a half one of the three key players in Greece’s crisis management team has repeatedly and openly admitted that the prescription for addressing the country’s predicament was wrong.
MADRID | OP-ED by Fernando Barciela | Laconic and without any fuss, PM Pedro Passos Coelho announced that three years after the €78 billion bailout Portugal will stand on its feet without the European Troika. His pledge aimed to get political momentum at the upcoming European elections, although it greatly stirred public anger. The rate on 10-year securities slid two basis points to 3.61 percent, from a record 18.29 percent in January 2012, according to Bloomberg data. Investors betting on Portuguese bonds have seen a 15 percent return this year through May 2.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | “We come here to get rid of capitalist friends of EU’s Troika”, some demonstrators shouted last Saturday in Madrid. The international organization is back in Spain this week to review the country’s economic developments after January’s finalization of its bail-out, as an European Parliament’s inquiry unfolds over the triumvirate’s working method, its internal dissagrements and mistaken measures.
ATHENS | Op-ed by MacroPolis | [NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: This article was published ahead of Troika officials’ meeting with Bank of Greece (BoG) governor Giorgos Provopoulos on Wednesday]. As local lenders’ capital needs have shot to the top of the agenda in the current round of talks between Greece and its lenders and ahead of the troika’s arrival on Monday, it had been widely reported that Greek banks would need no more than 6 billion euros. However, there is now speculation that the troika believes this figure will be much higher. Here is our take on how this disagreement came about and what the outcome might be.
ATHENS | Op-ed via The Agora | The European Parliament’s inquiry into the troika and its record in eurozone bailouts sounds like a welcome effort to hold Europe’s crisis managers to account. Unfortunately, the inquiry’s report is likely to miss the bigger picture, because of the European Parliament’s institutional navel-gazing and narrow focus on the troika – a team of civil servants – rather than its political masters.
PARIS | By Ludovic Lamant at Mediapart via Presseurop | Disagreements between the European Commission and the IMF on how to end the debt crisis in Europe continue to grow. Starting in Brussels, it is possible to envisage the careful dismantling of the group.
LONDON | By Victor Jimenez | A less credible Troika will spark even more investor distrust and bomb the one piece in the euro jigsaw that brings market confidence.
MADRID | By José Luis Marco, via capitalmadrid.com | The IMF in its latest paper about the banking industry in Spain admits some points could be excessive and damage the economic recovery of the country.
ATHENS | The eurozone and the IMF decided on 8 July to hand Athens a new tranche of aid in exchange for the sacking of 15,000 civil servants. If they want to lose the support of the population for the necessary reform of public services, that’s the best way to go about it, says Panos Panagiotopoulos.