Representatives of the four systemic banks in Greece – the National Bank, Alpha Bank, Piraeus Bank and Eurobank – are scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and the government Vice President Evangelos Venizelos. According to information made available to To Vima the 6pm meeting has been arranged in order to discuss the matter of the bad loans and the 11.5 billion euros available in the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.
The coalition government is making plans following the Eurogroup agreement for a precautionary “credit line” (ECCL), however on Monday the ESM declared that should Greece not come to an agreement with its creditors by the end of the year, the country will not collect the next 1.8 billion euros from the EFSF and will be forced to return the HFSF’s 11.5 billion euros.
The sum of 11.5 billion euros will be available until the end of the year, after which point it must be returned to the European Financial Stability Fund, in order to reduce the debt according, as per the agreement with Greece. The sum had initially been granted to assist in the recapitalization of Greek banks.
