European debt crisis

As Financial Times report the European Central Bank resists Greek new government’s latest bailout plan.

Greece needs a long-lasting funding agreement to avoid having its credit rating downgraded, a Fitch representative warned on Tuesday.

The European Central Bank is considering the possibility of leaving the Troika of Greece's international creditors, according to an article published by Handelsblatt on Tuesday.

The debate on a possible withdrawal reflects concerns within the ECB that its large-scale bond-buying plan, announced in January, could lead to conflicts of interest, says the German business daily.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

The European Central Bank remains opposed to an increase in the exposure of domestic lenders to treasury bills, while its verdict tomorrow on the possible extension of the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) mechanism for Greek banks is eagerly anticipated.

Greece's radical new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived in Greek Cyprus Feb. 2, making his first foreign visit to a close ally that has also been ravaged by the eurozone debt crisis.
      
Tsipras was met at the airport by Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides before heading to the capital Nicosia for talks with President Nicos Anastasiades.
      

The victory of leftist SYRIZA party in the early parliamentary elections held in Greece have left European leaders divided in their assessment, with many fearing this could have negative repercussions in their own countries.

British Prime Minister David Cameron wrote on Twitter that "the Greek election will increase economic uncertainty across Europe."

Excluding Greek bonds from any European Central Bank quantitative easing program would be bad news for the country?s recently upgraded credit rating, the main ratings agencies said.

The ECB is widely expected to announce a large-scale government bond-buying program on Thursday.

By Eleni Varvitsioti

Finnish Prime Minister Alex Stubb is one of the 19 leaders in the eurozone that will be asked to sign a new agreement with Greece after the elections.

By Jonathan Stearns

Greece is unlikely to win any writedown on debt owed to the euro area and should instead focus on possible relief in the form of longer repayment periods, said Olli Rehn, who helped avert a Greek exit from the European single currency at the height of the financial crisis.

The likelihood of Greece leaving the European single currency remains relatively unlikely than during the peak of the eurozone crisis and the risk of contagion to other countries is lower than in 2012, rating agency Moody's said on Wednesday.