EUX.TV, the EU policy channel» IMF

We may not decide on Schengen tonight, says Finnish PM

admin — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:47:07 +0000

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen on Thursday told journalists waiting outside the European Council that he does not think they will reach a deal on Bulgaria and Rumania’s accession to the Schengen Treaty tonight. Talking about the eurozone crisis, Katainen also said that Europe may “have to do more” to convince the IMF to boost its contribution to the bailout funds.

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G20 finance ministers ask Europe to boost bailout fund before more IMF aid

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:14:26 +0000

G20 finance ministers on Sunday in Mexico told Eurozone leaders to boost their rescue fund before they can add to the IMF resources destined to help Europe. For his part, European Commission’s vice-president Olli Rehn said in a press conference that the G20 welcomed the euro are agreement on a second Greek bailout deal. “G20 ministers underlined this bailout can put Greece on a sustainable path”, he said.

Lagarde: Our work needs to be coordinated and decisive

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:31:55 +0000

Christine Lagarde, Managing chief of the INternational Monetary Fund, on Thursday toiled journalists waiting outside the European Council that EU leaders “have a lot of work to do”. She added that efforts to solve the current sovereign debt crisis should be “coordinated and decisive”. “The IMF will participate in these efforts”, she concluded.

Italy asks IMF to monitor its budget, Barroso says

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:30:14 +0000

Extracts from the press conference in Cannes by the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

Lagarde: We have a comprehensive plan

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:38:22 +0000

IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, on Thursday told journalists waiting outside the European council that after long our of hard negotiations, “we have a comprehensive deal”.

Lagarde says there is “a lot of work ahead of us”

admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:09:15 +0000

IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, on Wednesday told journalists waiting outside the European Council that there is “a lot of work” in their hands, but everyone is “well motivated” to work hard.

IMF chief says achieved “real progress”

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:46:17 +0000

President of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, on Sunday told journalists outside the European Council that, despite there is more work to do, “real progress” has been achieved during the euro crisis meetings.

Barroso’s 2011 State of the European Union speech – highlights

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:43:09 +0000

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, told the European Parliament on Wednesday delivered his 2011 State of the European Union speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Verhofstadt: EU needs to abolish unanimity rule

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:18:38 +0000

Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgian prime minister and now leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats group in the European Parliament, on Wednesday called on the EU to abolish its unanimity rules, which keeps the EU from making the tough economic and financial decisions that it needs to make.

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Barroso: Greece will remain in the eurozone

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:47:04 +0000

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, told the European Parliament on Wednesday that Greece will remain a member of the eurozone, and that additional support measures are being deployed.

IMF chief Lagarde sounds alarm bell on world economy

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:20:59 +0000

The world economy is in a dangerous new phase, with risks on the rise, but while the problems are largely economic, the solutions are mainly political, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said. At her opening press conference ahead of the 2011 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, Lagarde outlined three main issues for the discussions – the weak global economic outlook, policies to safeguard the recovery, and the need for stronger leadership. World growth had slowed, hitting jobs and throwing more into poverty, and risks had risen considerably, she said. “The recovery that one was expecting has weakened and it’s clearly a risk that we see from an economic perspective, from a social perspective as well, because with less growth we see also less jobs,” she said. Source: United Nations

Greece considers euro referendum, report says – Euro crisis update

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:58:26 +0000

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is considering calling for a referendum on membership of the euro zone. The EKatimirini newspaper in Athens reports today, Tuesday, that Papandreou hopes that the outcome of such a vote would constitute a fresh mandate for his Socialist government. That mandate is needed to continue with an austerity drive that’s pressed for by the organisations that are lending money to Greece to – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The paper said that a bill has been submitted in Parliament that paves the way for a referendum to be carried out. According to its sources, Kathimerini reports that many of Papandreou’s close aides had already proposed the idea of a referendum to the prime minister earlier this summer. Since then, pressure has mounted on the government from all sides. International community and its creditors are pushing Greece for quicker and more effective reforms. But citizens are not at all happy with these cuts and even members of PASOK’s political council objecting to plans to slash the public sector. Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting out of Greece that there are not concrete plans for a referendum on the euro. The spokesman did admit however that a bill was proposed on Monday to hold referenda, but that this bill only was to make referenda possible. To be continued… I’m Raymond Frenken for EUX.TV in Brussels Full story on eKathimerini.com www.ekathimerini.com

Euro set for more turmoil as Germany considers Greek default

admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:44:20 +0000

The Euro is bracing for another hectic week this week, amid news reports saying that the German finance ministry is preparing for a Greek default that would force banks to write off 50 percent of the Greek debt. Germany’s Spiegel magazine reports today that finance minister Wolfgang Schauble doubts that a Greek default can be avoided. One possible scenario he is studying is that Greece will leave the euro and reintroduce the drachma. At the same time, the credibility of the European Central Bank has come under fire after the surprise resignation on Friday of Jurgen Stark, Germany’s top official at the ECB. The ECB officially said that Stark resigned for personal reasons, but ECB-watchers say a high-level dispute over the ECB’s buying of distressed Greek, Irish and Portuguese government bonds was the real reason for his departure. The ECB in recent months has spent more than 100 billion euro to buy mostly south European government bonds from private investors who wanted to get rid of them. Meanwhile, Eurozone finance ministers and central bankers are due to meet in the Polish city of Wroclaw on Friday and Saturday to discuss The status of the Second Greek rescue package that EU governments agreed here in Brussels in July. The recent turmoil has cast doubts over the status of this package, which now seems to be completely up in the air. Before that happens, negotiations between the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the Greek government are expected to …

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EU officials make vague proclamations on EU bailouts

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:33:37 +0000

Markets are pummelling the euro as EU finance officials make vague proclamations on strengthening EU bailouts but continue to disagree on the terms of a second Greek rescue plan, EurActiv.com reported on Tuesday. www.euractiv.com

Evangelos Venizelos: Greece has ‘strong will’ to implement austerity programme

admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:13:47 +0000

Evangelos Venizelos, appointed last week as the new Greek finance minister, on Sunday arrived at the meeting of Euro finance ministers in Luxembourg, delivering his first statement as finance minister to the European press. Asking if Greece was going bankrupt, Venizelos, who was Defence Minister until last week, said that Greece has ‘a strong will’ to implement the austerity programme as demanded by the EU and the IMF. Venizelos, who challenged Papandreou for leadership of the party in 2007, may ensure the unity needed to approve the new package and a confidence vote in the government due next week. The appointment of the 54-year-old Venizelos, also named deputy premier, is seen as a key step in maintaining a fragile peace with the PASOK socialist party.

Ireland’s request for lower rates falls on deaf ears at euro meeting

admin — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:30:56 +0000

Ireland’s Finance Minister, Micheal Noonan has expressed his doubt that Ireland’s bailout plight will be disscussed in much great detail at this afternoons Eurogroup Meeting. Rather, focus is back on Greece, as the words restructuring and default are being uttered across Europe this week.

Euro crisis set to flare up as Greek default looms

admin — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:01:11 +0000

The debt crisis in the euro zone is being reignited now that it is clear that Greece is not delivering on its promised reforms. Related story on EurActiv.com: twurl.nl Greece is failing to meet its restructuring targets. This means that Eurozone countries are no longer willing to send money to Athens as part of the European emergency support. Only with very tough measures, the Athens government can prevent this from happening. People familiar with the talks between finance ministers say that there is continued contact between Eurozone finance ministries because the situation is worse than in May last year, when the EU agreed emergency support measures for Greece at the very last minute. Within the next weeks, the International Monetary Fund and the Eurozone countries have to decide on transferring the next batch of 12 billion euro in emergency loans to Athens. Greece needs this money to repay its debts, but, according to one source, this now might not happen. Under the emergency support package for Greece that was agreed a year ago, Athens is entitled to 110 billion euro in emergency loans. Greece has committed itself to cutting its budget deficit to 3% of its gross domestic product by 2014. A delegation representing the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank is on the ground in Athens to monitor the Greek progress. Inspectors have reportedly concluded that there are problems. Greek tax revenue is lagging, and the delegation is pushing Greece to adopt …

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EU sees positive but ‘uneven’ economic developments in Europe: Rehn

admin — Fri, 13 May 2011 19:21:17 +0000

Olli Rehn is delighted to announce that the growth indicators for the EU for the first 3 months of the year to March are positive and show EU economies are returning to growth, of course some countries have a less positive outlook

IMF gives Europe a vote of confidence

admin — Fri, 13 May 2011 16:07:13 +0000

The IMF has stated that the EU is slowly returning to economic growth, despite some of the ‘peripheral’ eurozone states remaining in difficulties.

Olli Rehn confident the incoming Portugese govt will to stick to script

admin — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:25:43 +0000

Portugal’s bailout deal has been finalized by the EU-IMF, and barring an unexpeceted turnaround, Comissioner Olli Rehn has said that all parties agree, and the bailout should be upheld by the countires incoming government.

Eurozone crisis escalates – Chernobyl – Radioactive ships: Europe Today

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:43:50 +0000

Markets face fresh uncertainty over Eurozone debts amid talk of a haircut for holders of Greek bonds bit.ly Barrose pledges to help Ukraine finance a new sarcophagus in Chernobyl bit.ly And the EU sets limits on radiation levels on ships from Japan bit.ly Goodmorning from Brussels, for our a quick overview of today’s European policy news headlines. Pressure on financially weak eurozone members is rising sharply again amid growing speculation that Greece will restructure its debt and after a Finnish vote showed mounting public opposition to more bailouts. The German government on Monday indicated that it no longer believes that Greece, which sealed a €110 billion bailout from the EU and IMF a year ago, will make it through the summer without a restructuring. Meanwhile, the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund are meeting Portuguese government officials in Lisbon to set the terms for the EU’s third rescue in a year following the deals for Greece and Ireland. The fresh wave of uncertainty that is hitting the financial markets means that interest rates are going up. Here in Belgium, market rates rose to their highest in more than two years. Meanwhile, Ukraine looks to the world today to pledge more funds to help it contain the consequences of history’s worst nuclear accident. The EU on Monday committed another €110 million for a new sarcophagus that will seal the damaged reactor at least until the end of the century Leaders from the G8 …

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Eurozone crisis escalates – Chernobyl – Radioactive ships: Europe Today

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:43:50 +0000

Eurogroup press conference focuses on Portugal’s bailout

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:40:10 +0000

Jean Claude Trichet, Olli Rehn, jean Claude Jucker and Gyorgy Matolsc discuss Portugals EU IMF assistance request, along with topics on the economic governance of the eu17

Eurogroup press conference focuses on Portugal’s bailout

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:40:10 +0000

Jean Claude Trichet, Olli Rehn, jean Claude Jucker and Gyorgy Matolsc discuss Portugals EU IMF assistance request, along with topics on the economic governance of the eu17

Portugal dominates Eurogroup in Hungary

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:43:34 +0000

Olli Rehn, Jean Claudes’ Junker, and Trichet discuss Portugal, and economic governance at a meeting of the Eurogroup in Godollo Hungary this week

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