FRANKFURT (MNI) – Cypriot Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly expects
that a multi-country Eurozone aid package including Spain and Greece
will be bundled together and delayed until November, according to an
interview published Tuesday by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
The EU package is expected to include already-scheduled or
first-time aid for Spain, Cyprus, Slovenia and Greece, the newspaper
reported, citing EU diplomats.
Shiarly said a number of countries were considering applying for a
program, including Cyprus. But since none of the countries had completed
negotiations, he expected “that all applications will be delayed
together until November.” That would make the earliest opportunity for a
deal the Eurogroup finance ministers meeting November 12, after the US
presidential election.
Spain has yet to say whether it will apply for additional aid from
the ESM rescue fund, while Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has
asked for more time to meet the country’s fiscal targets and said his
government will run out of money by the end of November if it doesn’t
receive the next tranche of EU aid from the bailout package it already
has in place.
Shiarly, whose country holds the rotating EU Council presidency,
said the timing of the bundled package is largely up to Germany. The
German government “must first decide which direction it wants to go, and
then inform us of its position,” he said.
Cyprus will be asking for about E15.5 billion in aid – E10 billion
for its banks and E5.5 billion for its budget deficit – and is
discussing the final elements of the program with the Troika, which
consists of officials from the European Commission, International
Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, Shiarly said.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: ccermak@mni-news.com
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