Euro zone ministers divided over bailout remit

EURO ZONE finance ministers started two days of talks on the debt crisis last night amid open divisions over contentious moves to expand the remit of their bailout fund.

Although Greece was top of the agenda, the ministers were also discussing proposals to “leverage” the assets of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to strengthen its power to intervene in bond markets.

Germany played for time, however, as officials said the immediate priority was ensure an earlier set of EFSF reforms were endorsed by all 17 euro zone countries.

All single currency countries except Slovakia, Malta and the Netherlands have now approved these measures, which will expand the fund’s lending capacity and give it the right to buy up sovereign bonds from market investors.

EU leaders are concerned that the Slovak government, which faces deep internal resistance to the changes, might not be able to secure parliamentary support for the overhaul.

At a time when the expanding debt crisis threatens to engulf Italy and Spain, this would place yet another political roadblock in the way of the long battle to bring the debacle under control.

Official and diplomatic sources say EU heads of state and government will discuss plans for a new batch of EFSF reforms at a summit in a fortnight’s time.

This means ministers would have to deliver significant advance preparatory work by then. However, German minister Wolfgang Schäuble stressed the need yesterday to deliver the first overhaul before debating new powers for the fund.

“Speculating makes no sense,” Mr Schäuble told reporters as he arrived in Luxembourg. “We will wait until the other countries that haven’t ratified it also do so.”

Although markets are sceptical that any “leveraging” initiative would be big enough on its own to finally settle the tumult, such measures are seen as a viable means of intensifying the fight against the debt emergency.

A number of proposals are on the table, among them a system under which the EFSF would provide cross-guarantees to the European Central Bank to compensate it for losses it incurs as it proceeds with its bond-buying campaign to prop up Italy and Spain.

In part at least, this flows from concern to minimise divisions in the top echelon of the ECB over these interventions.

A “leveraging” measure of that kind – similar to policies adopted in the US at the height of the 2008 financial crash –­ would have the benefit of protecting the ECB’s position while not requiring any increase in the top-line lending capacity of the EFSF.

As a result, euro zone countries would not have to increase the guarantees they provide to the fund when it raises money on markets for bailouts.

While that would reduce the political risk in the process, the proposal is but one of several on the table.

“We are reviewing options on optimising the use of the EFSF in order to get more out of it and make it more effective as a financial firewall to contain contagion. Leveraging is one of the options,” said EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn.

“We will discuss this with the ministers. . . There are options including the ECB and options not including the ECB. This is something we will discuss today.”

ECB governing council member Christian Noyer, chief of the French central bank, said it was unrealistic to expect an increase in the EFSF’s size. He was open, however, to measures to enhance its power to intervene in markets. “Whether amounts are big enough is a matter of opinion,” Mr Noyer said in a speech in Tokyo.

“It would be unrealistic to expect an increase in the EFSF itself but I am personally open to any scheme that would allow existing commitments to be leveraged to provide greater intervention capacity.”

At the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund last month, it was suggested that the fund’s lending capacity might rise to €2 trillion from €440 billion.

EU leaders are resisting pressure on that front, mindful that it would require another round of parliamentary approval in euro zone countries.

They are also trying to damp down pressure to deliver a big recapitalisation for vulnerable euro zone banks.

The IMF estimates that the banks’ exposure to the debt crisis now stands at €300 billion.