Tornos News — Greece would be admitted in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) quantitative easing (QE) program only after the EU institutions and the IMF agreed on the implementation of debt relief measures to make the Greek debt sustainable, said the ECB President Mario Draghi.
The European Central Bank follows the same rules in every country where it buys bonds, its president said on Monday, responding to a question from Greek MEP Notis Marias.
“The rules that govern purchases [of bonds] are the same for all member countries,” Mario Draghi added.
Greece is not part of the ECB’s 2.3-trillion-euro bond-buying programme and the central banker made it clear that a necessary condition for Greece to be accepted in the QE program was a viable Greek debt and the conclusion of the second review.
Mr. Draghi stressed that implementing short-term relief measures followed by an detailed analysis of the medium term measures were the necessary steps before the ECB could independently evaluate the viability of the Greek debt. “We might be close to that target [ECB buying Greek debt] provided the second review closes soon”, he stressed.
The second review of the Greek program has stalled, substantially due to fundamental disagreements t between the European institutions and the IMF on the viability of the Greek deb, with the latter questioning the targets set and Germany threatening to abandon the bailout without the IMF.
