Parliament is next week expected to vote on beefing up the Eurozone’s multibillion rescue fund if a final agreement is reached during today’s meeting between the government and the opposition.
The draft legislation has already been passed to the Opposition for its consideration and the first reading is planned for Monday – the first day Parliament reconvenes following summer recess, sources told The Times
When contacted, Nationalist Parliamentary Group whip David Agius confirmed it was the government’s intention to hold a final vote on this legislation by the end of next week.
All Eurozone member states are expected to conclude the ratification processes to increase the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) by mid-October, at the latest.
The House Business Committee will be meeting today and the government will be discussing the way forward with the Opposition, Mr Agius said.
Last July, eurozone leaders agreed to boost the EFSF for ailing eurozone economies to the tune of €440 billion to reassure financial markets of their commitment towards the European currency’s stability.
However, the ratification process by each and every member state has still not been finalised as many European parliaments were in recess.
So far, eight member states have adopted the new package, including France, Italy and Spain, while Germany, Finland, Slovenia, Estonia and Austria are expected to conclude their processes this week.
In a recent meeting of the Euro Group, Malta asked for collateral to secure its own guarantees on the Greek bailout, insisting that all eurozone member states should be treated equally. Finland was the first eurozone member to ask for collateral as a guarantee for its loans to Greece and Austria and The Netherlands are said to have taken a similar position.
If Malta manages to ratify the agreement next week, it will still be among the last eurozone member states to conclude this important task.
Slovakia, where the vote is still in the balance due to disagreements in the governing coalition, is expected to be the last to ratify with a vote scheduled for October 11.
According to the July agreement, Malta will be pledging €400 million in guarantees to the EFSF which will be used to raise cash on the markets for countries in precarious financial situations.
Malta’s contribution to the fund will be the smallest, commensurate to its economy vis-à-vis the eurozone. The largest contribution will be made by Germany.
Over the last few months, the eurozone has already had to bail out Ireland, Greece and Portugal while speculation is still rife that Italy and Spain might be next.
Despite this speculation – which in the past days has included talk of an EU-International Monetary Fund grand plan to boost the EFSF further to €2-€3 trillion, recapitalise major banks and write off half of Greece’s debts – the European Commission and Euro Group president Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday kept mum on the issue.
Addressing a special session of the European Parliament yesterday, Mr Juncker said he was not going to react to any speculation.
“There is a lot of speculation going on and coming from all sides. This is just speculation and I won’t comment on this,” he told MEPs.
At the same time, he admitted that “the eurozone reacted slowly to the crisis” and this did not help the assurances expected from the financial markets.
Asked whether Greece should be kicked out of the eurozone, Mr Juncker said this was never on the cards.
“None of the problems in Greece, Ireland and Portugal are a consequence of their participation in the eurozone,” Mr Juncker said.