Greece May Not Get Bailout, Grexit “The Better Way”, Schaeuble Says
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
07/16/2015
Last Saturday, the EU finance ministers who gathered in Brussels in a last ditch effort to keep Greece in the eurozone were forced to confront a rather inconvenient truth. A bailout for Athens would likely cost nearly €80 billion, far more than the €53 billion figure mentioned in the draft proposal submitted by Alexis Tsipras two days earlier. The revised figure included a €25 billion provision for the recapitalization of Greece’s ailing banking sector. A day earlier, we warned that the banks would need at least €10 billion and likely more – “don’t tell Merkel”, we warned.
Judging by the date on a document that began to circulate once the finance ministers began to voice their consternation at the larger figure, Germany had already assessed the possibility that the cost of a potential third program for the Greeks was likely to climb prompting the finance ministry to prepare a document outlining two alternative options for Athens. One of these options was a 5-year Greek “time-out” from the eurozone. Initially (and by “initially” we mean for perhaps a few hours after the document was first distributed) the “time-out” idea was written off as simply another manifestation of Wolfgang Schaeuble’s frustration, but by Sunday it was clear that the idea was no laughing matter – indeed, had the bloc’s sleep deprived leaders not inked a ludicrous agreement at 6am in the morning, the “soft” Grexit scenario might already be well underway.
The Rest…HERE
