Brussels: Athens’ hopes that they could bridge their mounting cash crisis with the return of €1.2 billion (Dh4.8 billion) for the Greek bank recapitalisation fund were dashed Wednesday morning when the government was informed they had no legal claim on the cash.
The Greek government believes the funds were sent back to Eurozone authorities in error last month when, under pressure from Germany, finance ministers agreed all the remaining €10.9 billion in the bank rescue facility should be returned to the Eurozone’s bailout fund.
But on a conference call between deputy ministers from all 19 Eurozone finance ministries, the Greek delegation was told that the €1.2 billion was properly returned and the cash would stay in the bailout fund, known as the European Financial Stability Facility.
“There was agreement that, legally, there was no overpayment from the [Greek bank recapitalisation fund] to the EFSF,” said an EFSF spokesman
The spokesman added that the issue would be revisited “in due course”.
However, officials involved in the discussion said that any return of the €1.2 billion will now have to be approved by the EFSF’s directors — which are the Eurozone finance ministers. Such approval would likely take weeks, since in some countries it would require parliamentary sign-off.
Greece is expected to run out of cash as soon as April 9, when a repayment on a bailout loan is due to the International Monetary Fund.
The Greek government had requested the call in the hopes of discussing their new list of economic reforms, which they have promised to deliver in full by Monday. But the finance ministry deputies — known as the “euro working group” — declined to discuss the list, instructing Greek authorities to first get sign off from bailout monitors on the ground in Athens.
Primary hurdle
The standoff between Athens and the institutions responsible for monitoring the bailout — the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank — has been the primary hurdle for Greece receiving any of the remaining €7.2 billion in its bailout, and there were few signs that talks were speeding up on the ground in the Greek capital.
“Nothing has been organised, still,” said a senior official from one of the bailout monitors. “These technical discussions are still going very, very slowly.”
Officials have hoped a marathon meeting in Berlin Monday night between Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, and his German counterpart, Chancellor Angela Merkel, would jump-start talks with the bailout monitors in Athens.
People briefed on the Tsipras-Merkel talks said the Greek prime minister presented his reform list, but Merkel said she was not in a position to negotiate and urged Tsipras to work with the institutions in Athens.
However, the senior official expressed doubt that this would happen. “We have had so many misunderstandings on the processes that I’ll believe it when I see it.”
