EU leaders gathered for their first summit of this year as a deteriorating economy and struggle to complete a Greek debt writeoff risk sidetracking efforts to stamp out the financial crisis.
EU chiefs arrived in Brussels at about 2pm yesterday to put the finishing touches on a German-led deficit-control treaty and endorse the statutes of a 500 billion euro (US$661 billion) rescue fund to be set up this year. Greece and its private creditors said on Saturday they expected to complete a deal in coming days after bondholders signaled they would accept European government demands for a bigger cut in their debt holdings.
Efforts to hold the eurozone together with bolstered fiscal rules and a stronger firewall are colliding with stalled progress in Greece, where the crisis began in 2009. To prevent a financial collapse, Greek bondholders have been pushed to cede more ground after agreeing in October last year to take a 50 percent cut in the face value of more than 200 billion euros of debt.
“The fact we’re still at the beginning of 2012 talking about Greece is a sign this problem hasn’t been dealt with,” British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The summit follows warnings at the gathering that ended on Saturday that it’s time to end the region’s debt crisis and that measures aimed at simply containing the turmoil are no longer enough.
Attention before the Brussels summit turned to negotiations between the interim government of Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and creditors. The two sides were “close” to an agreement outlined by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the Institute of International Finance, negotiating on behalf of private creditors, said in a statement on Saturday after three days of talks in Athens.
Creditors are prepared to accept an average coupon of as low as 3.6 percent on new 30-year bonds, said a person familiar with the talks, who declined to be identified because a final deal has not yet been struck. As recently as Jan. 23, creditors wanted an average coupon of about 4.25 percent, two people familiar with the talks said then. That offer equated to a loss of about 69 percent on the net-present value of Greek debt.
Greece now requires 145 billion euros for its second bailout, 15 billion euros more than was agreed in October, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified official in Greece.
The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) new Yunlin patrol vessel would enhance maritime patrol capabilities in the south, President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday told a commissioning ceremony in Kaohsiung for the 4,000-tonne vessel. The Yunlin, one of four Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels ordered from shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船), would join the coast guard’s Southern Sector Flotilla based in Kaohsiung, bolstering the unit’s ability to conduct patrols along with searches and rescues, Lai said. The ship is equipped with three high-pressure water cannons with a range of 120m for dispersal tasks, the Ocean Affairs Council said. In his speech, Lai said that the government’s
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HU GE NEWS: The actor visited Taipei and was on the same flight as an official Shanghai delegation, leading to accusations Taipei City was doing ‘united front’ work Taiwan is open to healthy interactions with China, but Beijing should not engage in “united front” campaigns, a Cabinet official said yesterday following a report that China is paying influencers to produce content it approves of. YouTuber Potter King (波特王) said that the Chinese government has been paying Taiwanese content creators to travel to China and produce videos favorable to Beijing. Cabinet spokesman Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said that the government welcomes healthy and sustainable interactions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, but China should not use “united front” tactics in the culture and entertainment sphere to target young Taiwanese. Potter King