发帖
雷达卡
Feb 18th 2012
BILL HICKS, a comedian, used to joke that there must be a “ledge beyond the edge”. How else could the survival of Keith Richards be explained? What goes for rock stars also appears to go for Greece, which has been on the brink of a second bail-out package for weeks.
Deadlines have already been missed. A meeting of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, scheduled for February 15th, at which the terms of a deal were supposed to have been endorsed, was postponed the day before. Euro-zone ministers wanted more details of proposed spending cuts as well as written assurances that Greek politicians won’t renege on the deal once a general election, pencilled in for April 8th, is over. Greece has consistently missed its targets to date; trust among its troika of rescuers—euro-zone governments, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB)—that it will stick to a new agreement is low.
The delays may reflect the brinkmanship that is part of any tough negotiation. Greece is short of cash but not of bargaining chips. Without fresh bail-out money, it faces a chaotic default on its public debt. That might provoke wider contagion. Its rescuers, for their part, are putting pressure on Greece to commit to further austerity and reform by sounding sure that fallout from a messy default could be contained.
The way financial markets shrugged off news of the cancelled summit suggests that investors are confident that a deal can still be reached when the Eurogroup next meets on February 20th.
京公网安备 11010802022788号
