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Breaking stories
Draghi does not shut door on easing Anglo debt burden
ECB president Mario Draghi has not shut the door on agreeing to help ease the burden of the €31bn Anglo Irish Bank promissory note bill.
By Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent
The ECB has been very insistent that Ireland adhere to the agreement it made on repaying the money, which with interest would eventually cost taxpayers over €48bn. Mr Draghi told members of the European Parliament that “the existing terms of the contract are the terms of the contract” and “contractual commitments must be met”, but promised that the ECB “will continue to reflect on the issue”.
Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell, who asked Mr Draghi about the promo notes, said he was mildly optimistic following the answer.
“I don’t want to overcook what Mr Draghi said, but for a European Central Bank president, he has gone very far in the language he used. It was not a firm ‘no’ for the future,” he said.
Mr Draghi acknowledged that the challenges for Ireland now were in restructuring the banking system and regaining market access — something the Government hopes to begin doing later this year.
He said that Ireland had shown a strong commitment to implement the EU/IMF programme policy and everything the Government has done is to put fiscal policy on a sustainable path, and continue financial sector reforms.
His positive tone adds credibility to reports that discussions between experts from the ECB, European Commission, IMF, and the Government over restructuring the promissory notes are going well.
Sources say they expect that the technical paper they are working on as to how to achieve the restructuring should be ready next month in time for the EU finance ministers meeting on May 14 and 15.
Economist Tom McDonnell of the Tasc thinktank said he believed the ECB would agree to support medium-term financing for the Irish banks and that the EFSF would indirectly refinance the promissory notes with a series of bullet bonds to be repaid in full at the end of a very long maturity.
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