European policymakers are meeting again in Greece today to discuss a wide range of issues related to the next tranche of bailout funds that the nation is supposed to receive in the coming months.
This past weekend’s two-day meeting in Poland among euro zone finance ministers – which was also attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner – produced little if any concrete results. There, euro zone official merely delayed a decision on the next round of financial aid until October. Additionally, the finance ministers were not too keen on Geithner’s suggestion of boosting the €440 billion European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) by utilizing leverage.
European markets and the euro currency tumbled on Monday following the disappointing outcome of this weekend’s talks. The FTSE 100 fell by 2.0% in London, the CAC 40 by 3.0% in Paris, and the DAX by 2.8% in Frankfurt. The euro slid 0.4% to 1.3633 against the U.S. dollar in mid-day trading.
Currently, a conference call between the so-called troika of the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is being conducted to confirm Greece’s compliance with the conditions of the €110 billion bailout tranche deployed in 2010.
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