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Rolf Strauch, Member of ESM Management Board

"Can strong fiscal adjustments work in Europe? Putting the Greek case into perspective" 1

Background note for panel intervention at CEPS conference,

Brussels, 6 October 2015

The EFSF Board of Directors has today decided to waive the EFSF’s rights under the loan agreements with Greece with respect to events of default which were triggered when Greece missed certain repayments to the IMF. The EFSF had previously reserved its rights to accelerate the repayment of its facilities on 3 July 2015.

In light of the fact that the Greek government had cleared its arrears to the IMF and the new ESM financial assistance programme is in place, the EFSF Board of Directors decided that the circumstances leading to the events of default had been cleared.

Luxembourg - The Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) approved today the updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cyprus, following a positive assessment of the seventh review of Cyprus’s macroeconomic adjustment programme.

The ESM Board of Directors is now expected to unlock the disbursement of €500 million to Cyprus tomorrow morning.

Luxembourg – The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has promoted Françoise Blondeel, formerly Head of Middle and Back Office at the ESM, appointing her to the Management Board. In her new role as Management Board Member, Ms Blondeel will oversee the ESM Middle and Back Office, be in charge of the ESM’s internal coordination, and promote diversity. Ms Blondeel joined the EFSF in July 2012 as Head of Middle and Back Office and has performed the same role for the ESM since it was inaugurated in October 2012.

Klaus Regling, Managing Director of the ESM
“Risk sharing and resilience in the euro area”
Speech at conference on Building a Resilient Europe
Brussels, 30 September 2015

I am delighted to be here with you to speak on the topic of resilience. As you can see from the line-up of this panel, resilience is a concept that can apply to many fields. Today’s agenda covers energy, food production and migration. Resilience in my own field –that of the prevention of financial crises, or responding to them –is perhaps less tangible.

Luxembourg – The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) today issued a new €3 billion 10-year euro benchmark bond with a coupon of 1%, maturing on 23 September, 2025. Together with last week’s 3-year deal, the ESM has now fulfilled half of its funding needs for the remainder of the year in two single transactions.

The spread at issuance was fixed at mid swaps minus 4 basis points. This implies a reoffer yield for investors of 1.071%. LBBW, Morgan Stanley and SG CIB acted as lead managers for the issue. The total book size was in excess of €4 billion.