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Germany, France line up Greek-IMF aid deal
AFP - Friday, March 26
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives at an European Union summit at the European Council headquarters in Brussels. Eurozone heavyweights Germany and France lined up a deal to involve the IMF in a Greece rescue package Thursday as the continent's leaders thrashed out a strategy to halt the single currency's slide.
BRUSSELS (AFP) - – Eurozone heavyweights Germany and France lined up a deal to involve the IMF in a Greece rescue package Thursday as the continent's leaders thrashed out a strategy to halt the single currency's slide.
After bloated Athens debts dragged the euro to a 10-month low, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in the hour before a European Union summit opened, to involve the International Monetary Fund in an unprecedented move for the decade-old currency.
According to the German government, the deal, if approved by the other eurozone and EU partners, will mean a "substantial" component of IMF money being pumped in to fix Athens' finances.
In another departure, the agreement also envisages new sanctions being brought against all future wayward eurozone spenders.
Other EU leaders were seen smiling as they received details of the plans from Merkel, Sarkozy and EU president Herman Van Rompuy on their arrival in the Brussels summit chamber, after the Belgian EU figurehead was given first sight of stringent conditions hammered out for eventual loans.
According to the French presidency, head-to-head talks between Sarkozy and Merkel, the main protagonists in weeks of hard bargaining over how to help Athens, produced a "one-and-a-half-page" paper agreement laying out "very precise conditions" under which eurozone countries "could be led to intervene."
It placed a different emphasis on the weight of the IMF's involvement, outlining "a European framework constituted of coordinated bilateral loans which member states would be drawn to contribute," with a complement of "International Monetary Fund loans."
The deal was reached after Merkel warned that she would never abuse the "trust" of the German people, a majority of whom opposed granting direct aid according to opinion polls.
EU budget rule fight is a re-run of 14-year-old row
Greece's 300-billion-euro (407-billion-dollar) debt black hole largely lies behind the euro currency slumping to a 10-month low against the dollar, although a credit-rating downgrade for Portugal has increased the urgency to act.
The aim of assistance, according to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, should be to ensure "we strengthen the eurozone, we strengthen the euro and we stabilise the euro currency."
The European Central Bank and others had consistently argued that going to the IMF would be a sign of weakness.
ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet said that an IMF bail-out was a "very, very bad" thing.
"All sign of a lack of responsibility on behalf of the members of the eurozone is bad in my eyes," he told a French television network.
Merkel has been compared in her country to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher for her unwavering stance in the face of rising Greek anger over what it perceived as a lack of European solidarity.
Athens had accused German banks of profiteering from inflated interest rates on Greek government bonds, and German industry -- the world's second-biggest export economy -- of cashing in on Greece's woes by selling goods more cheaply abroad.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde had also taken aim at Germany over competitive disparities within Europe, alluding to the German export boost that is not shared by euro peers.
Traders hedge for profit, dodge blame
The IMF has never been involved in planning a financial rescue for a eurozone member state although it has helped EU countries such as Hungary, in joint efforts with Brussels and other institutions.
Tens of billions of euros are required to repay maturing Greek debt over the next couple of months.
Athens has been paying interest rates above six percent, more than double what Germany pays, and had asked for an EU deal to be able to borrow on less onerous terms.
Although the possible new sanctions were not spelled out, in extreme circumstances, Merkel has said that she wants the eurozone to be able to expel members who fail to balance the books.
In another boost for Athens, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet made it easier for struggling Greek banks to get funding by keeping loan collateral levels unchanged into 2011.
Following downgraded credit ratings, loan standards at the ECB would have meant Greek government bonds would no longer have been acceptable as collateral, which one economist suggested was "changing the rules."
Additionally, Switzerland, which is not in the EU but does most of its trade with the bloc and its core continental eurozone, said it would be prepared to help.
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