Greece says EU could intervene, mechanism in works
Published on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 08:19 | Source : Reuters
Updated at Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 14:31
Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3
0
Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3
Greece says EU could intervene, mechanism in works
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Wednesday the EU stood ready to intervene if speculation against his country's debt continued and euro zone sources said finance ministers would discuss next week a mechanism to support Greece.
While unions attack the measures, designed to slash that deficit to 8.7 percent of gross domestic product this year from 12.7 percent in 2009, European finance ministers are expected to applaud the government's efforts.
"Everybody will agree that Greece is very much on the right track, that we are no longer at an acute stage with Greece now," one euro zone source close to the ministers' meeting said.
"A week ago everybody was pressing Greece to come up with the goods -- and they did. Now Greece is pressing everybody to come up with rewards," the source said.
Greece, Germany, France and Luxembourg have called for speedy action to limit or even ban so-called naked credit default swaps, whereby a buyer has no stake in the underlying asset being insured against default.
EU finance ministers will discuss possible action next Tuesday, but Britain's top financial regulator said there was no case for emergency action because of Greece.
