Friday

22nd Sep 2023

€8bn Greek payment on ice until referendum

Greece will not receive an €8 billion tranche of EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) money until after its referendum on the eurozone rescue plan, reports indicate.

"The [IMF] board would not want to give money to Greece and then wonder what will happen ... The board will want comfort that Greece will fulfill its commitments and right now Papandreou is unable to give that," a senior IMF source told Reuters on Wednesday (2 November).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • The IMF wants to wait until there is more clarity on Greece's future, amid talk it might exit the euro (Photo: John D. Carnessiotis, Athens, Greece)

German finance ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus said earlier in the day: "The tranche has not yet been paid. That is the situation today. How things proceed is yet to be seen."

He hinted that Berlin would like the referendum to happen quickly, adding: "According to everything we hear from Greece, there is no urgent need for the payout until mid-December, more or less."

European finance ministers last week approved the €8 billion payment, the sixth tranche of a €110 billion package agreed to back in April 2010.

But the "dramatic circumstances" of the last few days - in the words of Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter - have made them wary of going ahead. Fekter told AFP that she and her European colleagues, due to meet in Brussels next week, would "listen very closely to what the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, for example, have to say."

The IMF still has to give its permission, having earlier said it wants to see a clear 12-month time-table to bring down public debt.

Greek media said the body's officials were "completely taken aback" by the referendum plan.

Christine Lagarde, the fund's managing director, will meet with Greek PM George Papandreou on Wednesday evening, on the eve of the G20 summit in Cannes, together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy.

"After the meetings we expect at least an indication of what will happen with the disbursement of the sixth tranche of the first Greek package," Juergen Michels, chief euro-area economist at Citigroup in London, told Bloomberg.

Brussels issues 'urgent appeal' for Greek unity

On the eve of the G20 meeting of the world’s leading economies, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso went over the head of Greece’s prime minister and called for national and political unity in the country.

Opinion

Democracy at a discount

With his referendum initiative, Papandreou has put democracy on the agenda and made clear that the management of the eurozone crisis is a battle over what should have the upper hand: Economics or politics;capitalism or democracy, asks Erik O. Eriksen.

Greek PM survives confidence vote, looks to transitional government

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou narrowly won a vote of confidence in the country’s parliament early Saturday morning. Paradoxically, the leader at the same time appears ready to step down and make way for a transitional, unity administration.

Papandreou pulls back from referendum

Greek PM George Papandreou is readying himself to step down, according to reports, and is likely to be replaced by a former vice-president of the ECB. A referendum on the new bail-out deal for Greece appears to have been shelved.

Latest News

  1. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  2. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  3. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  4. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies
  5. Antifascism and fascism are opposites, whatever elites say
  6. MEPs back Germany's Buch to lead ECB supervisory arm
  7. Russia to blame for Azerbaijan attack, EU says
  8. Fresh dispute may delay EU-wide migration reforms

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us