CIGI paper says ECB president #Trichet blocked IMF debt relief to Greece - Business Insider
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The paper, released by the independent think-tank the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), claims that the negotiating team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had pushed for debt haircuts for private bank sector holders of Greek debt. That would have meant those banks getting less than the amount they expected to be paid back. The idea was to provide an orderly process out of the debt crisis and to put the country onto a sustainable footing to repay its creditors.
However, the paper’s authors claim, the proposal came under fierce opposition from former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet. At an ECB meeting in the spring of 2010 a member of the central bank’s executive board brought up the prospect of debt relief. Trichet allegedly “blew up,” the paper says:
_The ECB president “blew up,” according to one attendee. “Trichet said, ‘We are an economic and monetary union, and there must be no debt restructuring!’” this person recalled. “ He was shouting ._ ”
In response to questions from Business Insider on the accuracy of the account, an ECB spokesperson said “we don’t comment on executive board meetings”.