Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I must wait to hear the proposal. One suggestion for a bridge is that the Greek authorities would be allowed to sell treasury bills up to the level of the bridge required. Originally they were talking about €15 billion, but it now appears the bridge would be more than that, because there has been fall-off in the collection of taxes. The European Central Bank has set a limit on the amount that can be raised on treasury bills. If that request is made, the first intervention in reply will be by the European Central Bank. It is a technical issue, so I am not quite sure. There are media reports that there will be a four-pillar approach, but I do not know whether that is correct. I do not wish to speculate on it. The Deputy is familiar with the suggestions that have been made in the newspapers, and that is one of them.

The German reports were that a programme is finishing in February, that the conditions of the programme have not been fulfilled by Greece and that Greece should fulfil those conditions. The negotiating space is to negotiate a new programme. That appears to be a rejection of the bridging proposal by one of the lead participants, but we must wait and see. There are various other suggestions around, but I do not know what weight the Greek Government would attach to them. However, they are attributed to the Greek Government. One of them is that it would be willing to comply with 70% of the reforms and it would like to replace the other 30% with structural reforms as designed by the OECD. The OECD would be generally recognised as the international authority that is best fitted to restructure economies and certain aspects of countries' economic approach. That is one of the pillars. There is also a suggestion that instead of having a primary surplus of 3%, as required at present, the Greeks will seek to have that reduced to 1.5%. Then there are proposals on debt reliefs and debt swaps of various types, including growth-linked bonds.

The European Central Bank is the first responder, but it seems there are technical difficulties immediately once one goes down that route. I do not know whether the newspaper and media reports are correct, but there is an indication that it is somewhere in that space. That might be for discussion tomorrow, but I have had no communication from the Greek authorities or any other group in Brussels that this is actually the space. There is one shot at it by what are usually informed people in the media.