Lidstaten dicht bij akkoord over aanpak financiële steun aan Griekse overheid (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Suggestions that euro area leaders were closing in on a Greek financing deal emerged on Tuesday evening (23 March), with pressure mounting ahead of this week's European summit and crucial debt refinancing dates for Athens.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose tough resistance to a quicker agreement has seen her likened to former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher this week, is reportedly ready to sign up to a rescue mechanism, although officials stress important obstacles still need to be removed.
Any accord this week on how and when to provide aid to Greece, should Athens fail to independently raise enough money to refinance the roughly €20 billion in bonds set to mature before the end of May, is likely to be announced at a specially convened event prior to the summit's start on Thursday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Tuesday called for a summit of eurozone leaders to precede the full EU gathering, set to be only the second such event in the euro currency's decade-long existence if it takes place.
The potential agreement will force compromises on all sides, with negotiators reportedly working overtime to agree language that would give Greece the assurances it is looking for, while meeting Germany's condition that the mechanism would only be used as a last resort, and ideally not at all.
Faced with regional elections in May and a German public opposed to bailing out Greece, Ms Merkel is insisting that the International Monetary Fund play a substantial role in the potential rescue plan, with the Financial Times Deutschland suggesting the fund would provide up to €10 billion, topped up with bilateral loans from a number of eurozone countries.
Such a deal would enable Ms Merkel to avoid coughing up the lion's share of any financial support needed, and allow her to present the final outcome as a negotiating success to German citizens, said analysts.
Berlin is also demanding that negotiations begin on tough new rules to enforce future budget discipline in the eurozone, even if that means renegotiation of the Lisbon Treaty, and that Greece would first have to fail to raise money on the markets before any rescue mechanism could be triggered.
Previously opposed to an IMF financing role, French officials indicated on Tuesday that their government was willing to soften its stance in a bid to secure agreement, reports AFP.
The officials also said Paris was willing to discuss tougher eurozone budgetary rules, even accepting "debate" on Berlin's demand that repeat offenders could be expelled from the currency area.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has been one of the principle voices putting pressure on EU leaders to agree on a plan this week, saying he thought Ms Merkel would back a deal as a "committed European."