{"id":24376,"date":"2015-02-07T04:11:50","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T03:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=24376"},"modified":"2015-02-07T04:12:08","modified_gmt":"2015-02-07T03:12:08","slug":"no-bridge-loans-for-greece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/no-bridge-loans-for-greece\/","title":{"rendered":"No Bridge Loans for Greece"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will chart a path forward for Greece in parliament on Sunday, two days after the head of the euro-area finance ministers\u2019 group shot down his proposal to avoid being shut off from funding at the end of the month.<\/p>\n

The new government\u2019s request for a debt writedown has already been rejected, and Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Friday rejected a request for a short-term financing agreement to keep the country afloat while it renegotiates the terms of its bailout program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t do\u201d bridge loans, Dijsselbloem told reporters in The Hague, when asked about Greece\u2019s request. \u201cA simple extension is possible as long as they fully take over the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0The European Union\u2019s latest rebuff raises the stakes for Greece\u2019s new government. The next showdown is scheduled for Feb. 11 in Brussels, when Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis faces his 18 euro-area counterparts in an emergency meeting after Tsipras delivers his major policy address to lawmakers.<\/div>\n

Standard & Poor\u2019s lowered Greece\u2019s long-term credit rating one level to B- and kept the ratings on CreditWatch negative.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiquidity constraints have narrowed the timeframe during which Greece\u2019s new government can reach an agreement with its official creditors on a financing program, in our view,\u201d S&P said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Greece\u2019s goal remains to achieve a bridge program that would give it time to negotiate with its creditors and devise a three- to four-year fiscal plan.<\/p>\n

Varoufakis has said his government won\u2019t accept any more cash under the terms of Greece\u2019s existing bailout, leaving 7 billion euros of potential aid on the table, rather than complying with demands for more austerity attached to the country\u2019s international bailout agreement.<\/p>\n

The standoff risks leaving Europe\u2019s most-indebted state without any funding as of the end of this month, following the Jan. 25 election victory of Tsipras\u2019s Syriza party.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s little doubt Tsipras will win the confidence vote — his coalition has 162 seats in the 300-seat chamber — attempts to persuade the rest of the euro-region to endorse his plan to restructure the country\u2019s debt and boost spending have so far drawn a blank. Tsipras and Varoufakis, have been recalibrating their rhetoric this week after markets plunged during their first days in office.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will chart a path forward for Greece in parliament on Sunday, two days after the head of the euro-area finance ministers\u2019 group shot down his proposal to avoid being shut off from funding at the end … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t