Thousands of protesters angry at punishing spending cuts poured into Athens' central Syntagma Square on Wednesday as Greek lawmakers rushed to pass laws needed to secure payment of a second bailout for the debt-laden country. Lawmakers set to work on a flurry of measures demanded by euro zone states in exchange for a 130 billion euro rescue, endorsed by finance ministers on Tuesday after hours of torturous negotiation in Brussels.
Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager, most vocal among mistrustful northern creditor nations, kept up a barrage of scepticism about Athens' ability to meet its reform commitments. "To be honest, I have doubts, but it's the best we could do," De Jager told French daily Le Monde when asked whether Greece could implement the new bailout programme.
He called for a strengthening of the euro area's financial firewalls around Greece, combining the current temporary rescue fund with a new permanent 500-billion-euro one due to come into force in July - a move so far opposed by Germany. Credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Greece further ahead of a planned bond swap under which it will enforce sharp losses on private creditors as part of the bailout programme.
It was the first of widely expected cuts from all rating agencies because Greece will pass into technical default on its liabilities once the transaction is completed, which Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said must take place by March 12. "The exchange, if completed, would constitute a 'distressed debt exchange'," Fitch said, downgrading Greece to C from CCC.
When the bond swap is done the sovereign rating will drop further to 'restricted default' and then will be re-rated again "at a level consistent with the agency's assessment of its post-default structure and credit profile," the agency said. Under terms agreed on Tuesday, private holders of some 200 billion euros of Greek bonds will take a loss of 53.5 percent in the face value of their holdings to ease Athens' debt burden. Laws to enact the debt swap passed the parliamentary committee stage on Wednesday and are set to be adopted in plenary session on Thursday. Venizelos told the Economic Affairs Committee that the debt swap offer must be made by Friday. The legislation requires that investors get at least 10 days to consider the transaction and creates so-called "collective action clauses" (CACs) forcing all bondholders to proceed with the transaction once it has won a specified level of approval.
According to the draft law, the swap will go ahead once a 50 percent quorum of bondholders have responded to the offer and the CACs will be activated once a two-thirds majority of that quorum have voted in favour of the swap. The debt swap is a vital part of a plan to cut Greece's liabilities from 160 percent of gross domestic product to 120.5 percent by 2020, according to the terms of the Brussels deal.
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