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Did Germany profit from the (third) Greek bailout?

From an article published in June 2018 on thelocal.de:

Berlin has been one of the main lenders to Greece during its debt crisis. While conservative parties warned that supporting Greece would come at the cost of the German taxpayer, new figures show Germany has made money on the crisis. The German government released figures on Thursday in response to parliamentary question from the Green Party which show that Germany has made €2.9 billion in interest payments on Greek bonds since 2010.

Since 2010 Germany has been buying Greek government bonds as part of an EU deal to prop up the struggling Greek economy. The bonds were bought by the Bundesbank and then transferred to the federal treasury.

Initial agreements with the government in Athens set out that any interest earned on the bonds would be paid back to Greece when it fulfilled its reform obligations.

But the figures published by the government on Thursday show that Germany made €3.4 billion in interest payments on the bonds and only paid Greece €527 million in 2013 and €387 million the following year. That left €2.5 billion in profit, plus interest of €400 million on a loan from the KfW development bank.

The Green party have responded to the figures by calling for debt relief for Greece.

“Contrary to all the myths spread by people on the right, Germany has profited massively from the crisis in Greece,” said Green MP Sven-Christian Kindler.

“It can’t be the case that the government makes billions in profits on Greek debt which it puts into the German budget,” he added. [...]

On Thursday, Eurozone ministers will try to resolve their differences over the terms of Greece’s departure from its massive bailout programme with splits over the degree of debt relief needed by cash-strapped Athens.

IsIs this the correct/complete picture? Did Germany make a profit on the bailout, apparently not [yet] paying back the interest? Or are there additional conditions attached?

Note that this issue of interest return apparently only applies to the correct/complete picture? Didthird bailout. Also Germany make a profit on the bailout, apparentlywas (obviously) not [yet] paying back the interest? Or are there additional conditions attached?only country involved:

In 2012 with Greece on the verge of bankruptcy, fellow Eurozone states rallied round to rescue one of their own.

Part of the bailout package they agreed was to use almost 27 billion euros to buy up Greek debt to prevent a vicious circle that would see the country facing more and more expensive borrowing costs.

At the time, the countries agreed that they should not profit from this action and that the interest paid to them by Athens linked to the bonds they had bought should be returned.

To this day, that interest amounts to almost €8 billion (More precisely €7,838,000,000, according to an email sent by EU finance commissioner Pierre Muscovici to MEPs). Some of this money has been sent back to Greece but much of it remains in the hands of other European countries. [...]

According to Euronews’ calculations, the Bundesbank, due to its position as the largest of Europe’s central banks earned €2 billion of interest since 2012 on the debt they purchased from Greece. France took €1.58 billion and Italy €1.37 billion. Documents obtained by Euronews confirm the figure for France, officials from other countries would not confirm or deny the amounts by the time this story was published.

Did Germany profit from the Greek bailout?

From an article published in June 2018 on thelocal.de:

Berlin has been one of the main lenders to Greece during its debt crisis. While conservative parties warned that supporting Greece would come at the cost of the German taxpayer, new figures show Germany has made money on the crisis. The German government released figures on Thursday in response to parliamentary question from the Green Party which show that Germany has made €2.9 billion in interest payments on Greek bonds since 2010.

Since 2010 Germany has been buying Greek government bonds as part of an EU deal to prop up the struggling Greek economy. The bonds were bought by the Bundesbank and then transferred to the federal treasury.

Initial agreements with the government in Athens set out that any interest earned on the bonds would be paid back to Greece when it fulfilled its reform obligations.

But the figures published by the government on Thursday show that Germany made €3.4 billion in interest payments on the bonds and only paid Greece €527 million in 2013 and €387 million the following year. That left €2.5 billion in profit, plus interest of €400 million on a loan from the KfW development bank.

The Green party have responded to the figures by calling for debt relief for Greece.

“Contrary to all the myths spread by people on the right, Germany has profited massively from the crisis in Greece,” said Green MP Sven-Christian Kindler.

“It can’t be the case that the government makes billions in profits on Greek debt which it puts into the German budget,” he added. [...]

On Thursday, Eurozone ministers will try to resolve their differences over the terms of Greece’s departure from its massive bailout programme with splits over the degree of debt relief needed by cash-strapped Athens.

Is this the correct/complete picture? Did Germany make a profit on the bailout, apparently not [yet] paying back the interest? Or are there additional conditions attached?

Did Germany profit from the (third) Greek bailout?

From an article published in June 2018 on thelocal.de:

Berlin has been one of the main lenders to Greece during its debt crisis. While conservative parties warned that supporting Greece would come at the cost of the German taxpayer, new figures show Germany has made money on the crisis. The German government released figures on Thursday in response to parliamentary question from the Green Party which show that Germany has made €2.9 billion in interest payments on Greek bonds since 2010.

Since 2010 Germany has been buying Greek government bonds as part of an EU deal to prop up the struggling Greek economy. The bonds were bought by the Bundesbank and then transferred to the federal treasury.

Initial agreements with the government in Athens set out that any interest earned on the bonds would be paid back to Greece when it fulfilled its reform obligations.

But the figures published by the government on Thursday show that Germany made €3.4 billion in interest payments on the bonds and only paid Greece €527 million in 2013 and €387 million the following year. That left €2.5 billion in profit, plus interest of €400 million on a loan from the KfW development bank.

The Green party have responded to the figures by calling for debt relief for Greece.

“Contrary to all the myths spread by people on the right, Germany has profited massively from the crisis in Greece,” said Green MP Sven-Christian Kindler.

“It can’t be the case that the government makes billions in profits on Greek debt which it puts into the German budget,” he added. [...]

On Thursday, Eurozone ministers will try to resolve their differences over the terms of Greece’s departure from its massive bailout programme with splits over the degree of debt relief needed by cash-strapped Athens.

Is this the correct/complete picture? Did Germany make a profit on the bailout, apparently not [yet] paying back the interest? Or are there additional conditions attached?

Note that this issue of interest return apparently only applies to the third bailout. Also Germany was (obviously) not the only country involved:

In 2012 with Greece on the verge of bankruptcy, fellow Eurozone states rallied round to rescue one of their own.

Part of the bailout package they agreed was to use almost 27 billion euros to buy up Greek debt to prevent a vicious circle that would see the country facing more and more expensive borrowing costs.

At the time, the countries agreed that they should not profit from this action and that the interest paid to them by Athens linked to the bonds they had bought should be returned.

To this day, that interest amounts to almost €8 billion (More precisely €7,838,000,000, according to an email sent by EU finance commissioner Pierre Muscovici to MEPs). Some of this money has been sent back to Greece but much of it remains in the hands of other European countries. [...]

According to Euronews’ calculations, the Bundesbank, due to its position as the largest of Europe’s central banks earned €2 billion of interest since 2012 on the debt they purchased from Greece. France took €1.58 billion and Italy €1.37 billion. Documents obtained by Euronews confirm the figure for France, officials from other countries would not confirm or deny the amounts by the time this story was published.

Source Link

Did Germany profit from the Greek bailout?

From an article published in June 2018 on thelocal.de:

Berlin has been one of the main lenders to Greece during its debt crisis. While conservative parties warned that supporting Greece would come at the cost of the German taxpayer, new figures show Germany has made money on the crisis. The German government released figures on Thursday in response to parliamentary question from the Green Party which show that Germany has made €2.9 billion in interest payments on Greek bonds since 2010.

Since 2010 Germany has been buying Greek government bonds as part of an EU deal to prop up the struggling Greek economy. The bonds were bought by the Bundesbank and then transferred to the federal treasury.

Initial agreements with the government in Athens set out that any interest earned on the bonds would be paid back to Greece when it fulfilled its reform obligations.

But the figures published by the government on Thursday show that Germany made €3.4 billion in interest payments on the bonds and only paid Greece €527 million in 2013 and €387 million the following year. That left €2.5 billion in profit, plus interest of €400 million on a loan from the KfW development bank.

The Green party have responded to the figures by calling for debt relief for Greece.

“Contrary to all the myths spread by people on the right, Germany has profited massively from the crisis in Greece,” said Green MP Sven-Christian Kindler.

“It can’t be the case that the government makes billions in profits on Greek debt which it puts into the German budget,” he added. [...]

On Thursday, Eurozone ministers will try to resolve their differences over the terms of Greece’s departure from its massive bailout programme with splits over the degree of debt relief needed by cash-strapped Athens.

Is this the correct/complete picture? Did Germany make a profit on the bailout, apparently not [yet] paying back the interest? Or are there additional conditions attached?