Eurozone states may ditch plans to impose losses on private bondholders should countries need to restructure their debt under a new bailout fund due to launch in the middle of 2013, four EU officials said on Friday.
Discussions are taking place against a backdrop of flagging market confidence in the region’s debt and as part of wider negotiations over introducing stricter fiscal rules to the EU treaty.
Eurozone powerhouse Germany is insisting on tighter budgets and private sector involvement (PSI) in bailouts as a precondition for deeper economic integration among eurozone countries.
Commercial banks and insurance companies are still expected to take a hit on their holdings of Greek sovereign bonds as part of the second bailout package being finalized for Athens.
However, clauses relating to PSI in the statutes of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) — the permanent facility scheduled to start operating from July 2013 — could be withdrawn, with the majority of eurozone states now opposed to them.
The concern is that forcing the private sector bondholders to take losses if a country restructures its debt is undermining confidence in eurozone sovereign bonds. If those stipulations are removed, most countries in the eurozone say that market sentiment might improve.
“France, Italy, Spain and all the peripherals” are in favor of removing the clauses, one EU official said. “Against it are Germany, Finland and the Netherlands.”
Austria is also opposed, another source said.
A third official said that while German insistence on retaining private sector involvement in the ESM was fading, collective action clauses would only be removed as part of broader negotiations under way over changes to the EU treaty.
Berlin wants all 27 EU countries, or at least the 17 in the eurozone, to provide full backing for alterations to the treaty before it will consider giving ground on other issues member states want it to shift on, officials say.
Germany is under pressure to soften its opposition to the European Central Bank playing a more direct role in combating the crisis, and member states also want Berlin to give its backing to the idea of jointly issued eurozone bonds.
German officials dismiss any suggestion of a “grand bargain” being put together, but officials in other eurozone capitals, including Brussels, say such a deal is taking shape and suggest Berlin will move when it has the commitments it is seeking, although it’s unclear when that will be.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Strasbourg on Thursday that there was no quid pro quo being set up.
“This is not about give and take,” she said.
Eurozone finance ministers will discuss the ESM at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, including the implications of dropping collective action clauses from its statutes.
While most eurozone countries just want to forget about enforced private sector involvement, some are adamant that there must be a way to ensure banks and not just taxpayers shoulder some of the costs of bailing countries out.
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