Berlin raises wall to decision on use of SMP and ANFA earnings

Germany's opposition to the creation of additional fiscal space for Greece's 2020 budget with the earnings of eurozone central banks from their Greek bond holdings (SMPs and ANFAs) is the reason for the apparent delay in the decision on this matter, which has now been put off until next year.

Sources familiar with the negotiations that have started on an informal level say that Berlin has made it clear it would be inclined to discuss the channeling of SMPs and ANFAs toward investments, as the Eurogroup's decision in summer 2018 provided for, but not in a way that would generate additional fiscal leeway.

This view is also held by at least one section of the country's creditors, with the argument that the 2018 Eurogroup decision was not meant to create more fiscal space, as that would cause problems in the sustainability of the national debt. Readers are reminded that...

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