ECB rejects Irish bid on promissory note-sources
charge that kicks in with this year's payment would help reduce Ireland's budget deficit, still among the highest in Europe, by more than one percentage point, according to finance department estimates.
The source said everybody involved in Ireland, the European Commission, euro zone finance ministers and the ECB wanted to find a solution by the end of March, when the next payment is due.
Ireland had raised other ideas that were less problematic, he said, declining to go into detail.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny told Reuters Insider television in an interview on Friday that getting relief on the promissory note was a crucial part of his country's path to returning to full market funding this year after its EU-IMF bailout programme expires.
"We've made no secret of the fact that it's unfair. We are the only people who have had to put up with that," Kenny said, calling the talks with the ECB technical and complex.
The aim was to re-engineer, restructure the note and extend the maturity over a much longer period, he said.
Relations between Dublin and the European monetary authority have been tense since the ECB refused during the bailout negotiations to allow Ireland to make senior bondholders of Irish banks take a share of the losses incurred in the rescue.
Kenny said his government remained "confident that we'll have a deal concluded by the end of March when the next payment is due".
Another EU source said one of the outstanding issues was whether the
Be the first to comment.
