With a new bailout programme on the horizon Meg Lundsager argues that yet more IMF loans for Greece would be a stopgap measure and would delay reforms that Athens needs to make

Greece's parliament has approved a bill reforming the debt-ridden country's pension and tax systems.

Eurozone deputy finance ministers provisionally approved the payout of a €1bn aid tranche for Greece yesterday after Athens withdrew a disputed package of social justice measures from parliament.

Europe will be able to handle future economic crises without the help of the International Monetary Fund, the head of the eurozone’s bailout fund told German magazine Der Spiegel yesterday.

The European Commission has urged Greece to stick to commitments it has made to reform its economy as prime minister Alexis Tsipras called a snap election within hours of new EU bailout cash arriving in Athens.

Greece will move rapidly to privatise its ports, regional airports and its power grid operator under a memorandum of understanding agreed with its international lenders.

European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) negotiators have begun talks with Greece to hammer out details of a third international bailout worth €85bn.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has defeated a bid by dissenters in his left-wing Syriza party to push for an end to bailout talks and an exit from the euro.

Mathematicians use “imaginary numbers” for abstract concepts such as the square root of -1. The EU seems to be using a similar trick in constructing a bailout for Greece.

The Greek parliament has backed government proposals for economic reforms in the hope of ending the country’s debt crisis.

Saying anything definitive about the Greek crisis at the moment is extremely hazardous as the situation is changing from hour to hour. 

A harsher austerity programme than any that has gone before for Greece will be studied by troika officials today before going to eurozone ministers tomorrow.

Greece has submitted its request for a rescue deal from Europe’s bailout fund.

Greece will make a proposal to tap Europe’s bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, as soon as tomorrow, the eurozone’s top official has said.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has ruled out any new bailout for Greece restricting what the Irish Government can offer in the next budget.

Greece won’t exit the monetary union this year, in our judgment. The country’s near-term financing gap is small relative to the size of the financial aid it has received in the past, and the will to keep the union together remains strong.

Creditor officials and Greek authorities have begun talks intended to unlock bailout funds, as some euro-area central bankers were said to raise opposition to the prospect of additional emergency cash for the country's banks.

Trinity College professor Philip Lane has joined a chorus of senior figures in criticising the decision not to burn bondholders as part of the 2010 troika bailout, saying the burden of the programme fell unfairly on Ireland.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has been accused of “surrendering” any hope of a bank bail-out debt deal from the EU.

‘Impossible to say’ how long the process will take, committee told

Ireland recouping the money it put into its failing banks is a near impossibility as the rules on bank recapitalisation are finalised, a top EU official has admitted.

The eurozone’s permanent crisis resolution mechanism is selling bonds in the public market against a brighter backdrop for European peripheral sovereigns.

Germany’s top court has rejected lawsuits seeking to block the country’s participation in the European Stability Mechanism, a key part of the euro area’s response to the debt crisis.

Germany’s constitutional court has upheld the country’s participation in a fund which can bail out troubled governments in the eurozone.

Ireland’s attempt to get a deal on historic bank debt is unlikely to be addressed until the end of this year at the earliest and will be considered alongside the potential sale of State-owned banks, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said.

There is no clear cut argument why Ireland should get a retrospective bank recapitalisation through the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Then again, there is no clear cut argument why Ireland should not get such a deal.

EU finance ministers have reached political agreement on a final piece of the bloc’s planned banking union after more than a year of hard bargaining – the most ambitious step in integrating its economy since the adoption of the euro.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will be asked to agree to another layer of supervision over Ireland’s budget at this week’s EU summit just as the country emerges from the bailout programme.

The Government has given its strongest indication yet it is willing to go it alone and reduce debt levels without help from the EU’s emergency fund in bailing out the banks.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said Ireland can still cut its debt significantly without getting a deal to offload historic bank debt.

Long tedious negotiations striving to reach agreement on essential elements of a banking union moved closer to a compromise last night in Brussels, with a design much closer to that demanded by Germany.

The head of the European Stability Mechanism, Klaus Regling, says Ireland's chances of receiving retro-active recapitalisation of our banks, using the ESM, are "unlikely".

Taoiseach Enda Kenny warned the Dáil that while Ireland was opting for a clean break from the EU/IMF bailout without a credit safety net there were still demanding times ahead for the country.

Six of the country’s leading economists have strongly criticised the Coalition’s decision to exit the bailout without a credit line, saying bumpy economic conditions could force Ireland to seek one later but under harsher terms.

Ireland is to make a clean break from its three-year international bailout programme next month without seeking precautionary funding, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has confirmed.

Ireland is free of the troika but not of austerity as the Government warns a tight rein will continue to be kept on spending in the years ahead.

Corporate Ireland’s financial heads are overwhelmingly in favour of the Government agreeing a back-up credit line upon exiting the country’s bailout programme in December.

The Government has been bragging about being on track to exit the bailout on Sunday, Dec 15.

The European Commission wants to create a new financial backstop for ailing banks from its member countries that do not use the euro currency.

Germany’s finance minister said in an interview published today that he expects a future aid package for Greece to be much smaller than the country’s existing rescue deals.

The institutional shortcomings of the eurozone have been cruelly exposed over the past four years. These have, in part, been addressed through the creation of a banking union and a bailout fund — the European Stability Mechanism.

Ireland is not going to get a retroactive bailout from the European Stability Mechanism according to the former deputy director of the IMF, Dr Donal Donovan.

Backing off from Ireland’s deficit targets for the upcoming budget could have an impact on jobs, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has warned.