How close did the Dutch come to ditching the euro?

The Guilder - was it close to making a comeback? 

Yesterday, former Dutch Finance Mininister Jan Kees de Jager, who held the role until November 2012, revealed something very interesting. Apparently, the Dutch government, together with the German govenrment, made contingency plans during the height of the eurozone crisis for the two countries to ditch the euro. A “team” of lawyers, foreign policy experts and economists were employed to investigate different scenarios,. One was to reintroduce the “guilder”:

"The team met regularly on Friday afternoons, but could also be present very quickly in case we needed to make a decision"

He also revealed how Germany was closely involved but other countries were less keen to prepare:

"Some countries considered the fact that several scenarios were being discussed in Europe already very scary. Remarkably enough they did not do this. We were one of the few countries[to discuss scenarios], together with Germany. We even had a team discussing scenarios, Germany-Netherlands.”

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem also admitted that the Dutch government was at one point “preparing for the worst case scenario”, saying:  

 “Heads of government, including the Dutch cabinet, always said: ‘We want to keep the euro together and to keep the euro as a single currency.’ That said, we also looked at what would happen if that didn't succeed”.

Dijsselbloem added that no guilder notes were actually printed, and unlike de Jager, he refused to confirm whether Germany had made similar preparations.

This of course is in line with what we've heard before. The Dutch Central Bank has already admitted it made some contingency plans for a euro exit in 2012, while De Volkskrant has revealed that, in June 2012, Prime Minister Mark Rutte threatened the possibility of the Netherlands exiting the euro. Nevertheless, the detail and the format of the planning highlights just how seriously this was taken.

We can't help but feel it puts the continuous protestations by ECB President Mario Draghi that the single currency is  "irreversible" into a new light...

The £1.7bn question (Part II) - What are other EU finance ministers saying?

Here's a round-up of comments from other EU finance ministers about the UK's £1.7bn EU budget surcharge and the deal struck at today's meeting. This being EU budget negotiations, everyone is claiming either 'nothing to see here' or victory. Apart from the Dutch, who are getting a pretty raw deal.

We've given our take on the deal in this blog post: when all is said and done, the UK will pay £850 million. The question is whether the rebate the UK gets from the EU budget always applied to the £1.7 billion, and whether, therefore, George Osborne is basically engaging in accounting manoeuvres.

Remember, due to the way the UK's rebate from the EU budget is structured, everyone is basically paying for it, so it's not in anyone else's interest to ever talk it up.

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said,

“My understanding is that the UK will pay the whole amount but there will be no penalties attached or interest rate on that.”

Spain's Luis de Guindos argued,

“No-one has put into question the [European] Commission’s figures…as perfectly valid. Basically, what we agreed on is the possibility of a delay in payments.” 

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem stressed,

“The UK has...a rebate, which they have had for a very long time and of course this mechanism of rebate will also apply on the new contribution. So it's not as if the British have been given a discount today. The old mechanism of the rebate will also apply on the UK contribution, which will increase.”  

According to Austria's Hans-Jörg Schelling,

“Whether the money is to be paid in instalments or as a lump sum is a discussion we can have. But the amount cannot be put in question.” 

Sweden's Magdalena Andersson stroke a more positive note,

“Compared to a situation where the Commission was not going to table a new proposal, of course this is a victory for the UK…Given the amounts, I can understand that one wants to discuss both transparency and the calculations.”  

As regards German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, he avoided taking a clear stance despite several attempts from journalists at his post-ECOFIN presser. All he said was,

“We have discussed instalments…but we haven't discussed the British rebate...which doesn't mean that the Brits do not raise these questions…I don’t have opinion on that.”

So all clear then...

The most depressing part of this episode is that an enormous amount of energy has been spent, and the UK has been pitted against natural allies, not least the Dutch. Secondly, absolutely nothing on the substance of the EU's wasteful budget has changed.

Franco-German stand-off over eurozone fiscal rules reaches biblical proportions

In the past month there has been a lot of pushing and shoving over the eurozone's fiscal rules (see here). While renegotiating the Stability and Growth Pact seems off the table, French President François Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi have been calling for more 'flexibility' in the application of eurozone fiscal rules - leading a whole host of German politicians to see red.

Whether or not more flexibility may be granted to member states in the future will in part be decided by the next EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner. As we've pointed out here, the two front runners for the post for the post are French Economy Minister Pierre Moscovici and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

And Merkel's CDU is not happy about the prospect of Moscovici bagging the job. The party’s budgetary spokesperson Norbert Bartle has told Handelsblatt:

“If you appoint exactly that French Finance Minister [Pierre Moscovici] to the position of the EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, who has done nothing to comply with the Stability Pact, that is as if you wanted to cast out the demons with Beelzebub." 

Bartle could have stuck to the good old "putting the fox in charge of the hen-house", but when CDU politicians resort to the bible to argue their case (Matthew 12:27), you know it's getting serious.

Why Cameron needs to make a swift decision on the UK's next EU Commissioner

In a recent briefing, we stressed that David Cameron needs to pick a 'heavy-hitter' as UK's next European Commissioner if he wants to secure a key portfolio for the UK. Our point is reinforced by a quick look at the candidates being (more or less officially) lined up by other EU member states.

If the UK drags its feet on 'declaring' its candidate, and then sends someone not considered up for the job, we suspect its chances will pretty much have evaporated.

FRANCE - Former Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici is regarded as the frontrunner. The possible alternative could be Élisabeth Guigou, who has served as French Europe Minister, Justice Minister and Employment Minister.

GERMANY - Günther Oettinger looks very likely to stay on as German Commissioner. A former Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, he has gained influence within Angela Merkel's CDU party during his five years as EU Energy Commissioner.
 
ITALY - Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini is widely tipped to become the new Italian Commissioner. She is currently regarded as the frontrunner to replace Lady Ashton as EU foreign policy chief. 

FINLAND - Former Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen will be the new Finnish Commissioner. He has already replaced Olli Rehn, who had to take up his seat in the European Parliament. Importantly, Katainen stepped down as Finnish Prime Minister precisely because he had set his eyes on a job in Brussels.

SPAIN - Former Agriculture Minister Miguel Arias Cañete is the favourite to become the new Spanish Commissioner. He resigned in April after being picked by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as Partido Popular's top candidate in the European Parliament elections.

POLAND - Various names have been suggested. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski remains the frontrunner (despite the recent wiretapping scandal). Former Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski and former EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski - recently elected as an MEP - are also in the race.

NETHERLANDS - The frontrunner is Finance Minister and Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is one of the two big contenders for the key post of Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner along with France's Pierre Moscovici.

ESTONIA - Former Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, leader of the liberal Estonian Reform Party, will be the new Estonian Commissioner, according to what Jean-Claude Juncker just said during his hearing with MEPs from the ALDE group.

What is somewhat different with this lot is that it includes a range of acting or former senior ministers still very much operating on the political centre stage in their respective countries. With some exceptions, the time when countries sent to Brussels whoever the sitting government tried to 'get rid of' seems pretty much over.

Cameron better get a move on.

Juncker: The next Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner will be a Socialist

UPDATE (14:15) - One possibility we have not considered in our original blog post is that European Commission portfolios can change. They can be split, broadened, and so forth.

However, at this stage it is quite hard to know whether and how this will happen. Hence, our reasoning is based on the existing portfolios.

ORIGINAL BLOG POST (13:15)  

Pieces are falling into place with regard to the composition of the next European Commission. Jean-Claude Juncker, who is waiting to be confirmed as new Commission President by MEPs in a vote next Tuesday, has just said that the next EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs will be a Socialist.

Given the recent debate over EU fiscal rules and their 'flexibility', this sounds like a key pledge from Juncker to secure the backing of centre-left MEPs - since the Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner is responsible for enforcing such rules.

Now, two candidates for the post spring to mind instantly: former French Economy Minister Pierre Moscovici and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, both from their respective countries' centre-left parties. The decision will likely also depend on what happens to the Presidency of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers - with Spain making no secret of its interest in the job.

Scenario 1 - Dijsselbloem becomes the new EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner

This looks very likely to happen if Spain secures the Presidency of the Eurogroup. German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not be keen to see Mediterranean countries holding the posts of ECB President (Italy), Eurogroup President (Spain), and Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner (France) at the same time.

This would also mean that France will push to secure another key economic portfolio for Moscovici: Internal Market, Competition or Trade. This would not be ideal from David Cameron's point of view, although the UK would be likely to get whichever of the bigger briefs France did not get.

Scenario 2 - Moscovici becomes the new EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner

This would probably mean that Dijsselbloem will stay as Eurogroup President. At that point, Spain could be 'compensated' with an important portfolio in the new Commission. According to the Spanish media, Miguel Arias Cañete - a former centre-right Agriculture Minister who is widely tipped to be appointed Spain's new Commissioner - would be interested in the Trade brief.

Under this scenario, the UK would possibly have a greater chance of securing the Internal Market or the Competition portfolio (both very relevant, as we explained here) - not least because France would no longer be a contender. That said, as we pointed out above, Germany is probably wary of this scenario. And the UK may well be concerned about France controlling the brief which has the most impact on the issue of the balance of power between euro 'ins' and 'outs'.

One to watch for the UK: Finland's Jyrki Katainen  

One more thing to bear in mind. Until today, former Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen was seen as a strong candidate to succeed his fellow national Olli Rehn as Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner. However, it now seems he will have to go for another portfolio. This could have important implications for the UK. Under a positive scenario, reform-minded Finland along with the UK could secure the Internal Market brief as well as the Competition portfolios. Indeed, France getting the Economic and Monetary Affairs portfolio could increase the chances of this happening. 

This is all quite speculative, and based on wishes Juncker expressed during his hearing with the centre-left S&D group in the European Parliament. National governments will play an important role when the time to assign portfolios in the new European Commission comes.

At the moment, there is still a decent chance of the UK securing a good porfolio despite the Juncker débâcle. One thing is clear, though: most other EU countries have already settled on high-profile candidates (note the numerous mentions of both former and acting finance ministers and prime ministers above), while the UK is yet to even decide on a clear shortlist of candidates. It is time to kick it into gear on this front.

Swedish and Dutch patience running out over proposed FTT?

EU finance ministers met today, with the financial transaction tax (FTT) once again topping the agenda.

They were presented with a new proposal or brief under which the 11 countries pursuing the FTT under enhanced cooperation could move forward. The plan involved significantly amended terms and (again) suffered from a significant lack of detail:

• The scope will be “limited” to “shares and some derivatives”, according to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble – suggesting bond markets and probably repo markets will be exempt. The level of the tax on shares could be cut from 0.1% to 0.01%.
• This will form part of a “step by step approach”, suggesting the tax will be expanded in the future.
• Non-participating countries will be fully informed on all future FTT discussions.
• The FTT will not be introduced until January 2016.
• It is unclear whether Slovenia will participate in the FTT anymore, given that it did not sign the recent statement on the issue due to domestic problems and uncertainty around its government.
• Reuters reports that the revenue from the adjusted tax is expected to be about a tenth of the original forecasts – putting it at €3.5bn.

Those outside the proposed FTT zone showed quite significant hostility to the process of enhanced cooperation (as it has been conducted in this case) and continued to warn of legal action. UK Chancellor George Osborne said:

“The FTT that people have talked about is not a tax on bankers, it’s a tax on jobs, investment and people’s pensions.”

“Here we have a situation where 11 member states are working up their proposals largely in secret, I do not know how involved the Commission is in this or not. Then as we start our discussions here we get a piece of paper handed to us all by the 11 member states saying this is what we have agreed.”

“We will wait to see the final text of the proposal, but we will not hesitate to [legally] challenge an FTT which has extraterritorial impacts, that damages other member states, including the UK, or that damages the single market.”

Osborne was notably annoyed by the fact that the one page sheet on the new proposal was presented to the other EU ministers only five minutes before the meeting. His position was strongly backed by Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg, who said:

“Even if this is a rather narrow proposal, there is a clear risk of a slippery slope toward a broader proposal with much more harmful effects on growth, and particularly on the capital markets.”

“The burden of proof is on the countries that want to enter the enhanced cooperation to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that those not participating are not harmed by this measure.”

“We did not support the U.K. when they started this legal case; we are much closer to doing that, because the process has not been satisfactory during these last few months…I’m very disappointed in the process.”

While even Eurogroup Chief and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem warned:

“The impression I get is that, you [meaning the 11 FTT countries] have found a very, very small common ground, which is still very vague on the basis for the tax, when it will actually take place, on what products etc. but you have decided we must come out with something before the elections. That’s fine, but please also respect that we’d like to know a little more.”

“I don’t think that there is any basis at the moment for the Dutch government to consider joining, certainly not on what we have here… I’m a little disappointed in the way the process is going at the moment.”

All in all then, while there is talk of progress on the FTT, its scope has been slashed as expected, while the time line has been pushed into the long(er) grass. The process under enhanced cooperation has taken a public hammering, while it remains clear that those involved are struggling to find any clear agreement.

However, the fact that the Swedes and Dutch have expressed their anger so openly highlights that this will continue to be politically fraught. In addition, that the 11 countries seemingly want to reserve the right to expand the FTT in future, means this still has a way to run and future legal challenges are a genuine possibility.

A hint as to what a eurozone grand bargain could look like?

German coalition talks are dragging on, but we may have got a hint as to what a grand bargain between the eurozone north and south might look like, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel again appearing to open up for an EU Treaty change.

She told a Süddeutsche Zeitung leadership conference,

"Germany is ready to develop the treaties still further. At the very least we have to be ready to improve the euro protocol of the Lisbon Treaty – which only applies to euro states – to allow an institutional co-operation via the so-called community method and not to only be active at intergovernmental level."

She proposed a "new co-operation" between the European Commission and member states, with the policy recommendations being the result of negotiations.

She added,

"In this way we create a sense of ownership, a sense of responsibility is created among member states to implement necessary change. That's what I understand by economic co-ordination."

As we've argued before, it's easy to get sustained whiplash injuries from tracking the German position on EU treaty change, but this (again) sounds like 'reform contracts' or 'competitiveness pacts' to us - which we have long argued would come back on the agenda - with the European Commission acting as the 'structural reform police'.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Les Echos and other European papers, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem also had some interesting things to say: 

"If a country is not persuaded that it’s in its own interest to reform and modernise, it cannot be motivated from outside. It doesn’t seem wise to me to propose a ‘reward’ in return for a reform. Instead, I think one should link the concession of additional time to correct budget deficits to stricter conditions in terms of reform. I give you more time if you speed [reforms] up. The European Commission may, if a country fails to do so, demand more on budget [adjustment]."

A lot to play for...

Ireland prepares to exit financial assistance…with further assistance…

Talk surrounding the Irish exit from its bailout programme has been picking up in recent days and weeks given that it is supposed to get off its current bailout programme at the end of this year (the final disbursement of funds is expected sometime in November).

The last few days in particular has seen increased interest with Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem telling the European Parliament yesterday that there would be “measures to support [Ireland’s] gradual exit” from its programme. Irish Finance Minister elaborated on this suggesting that Ireland will seek a €10bn credit line to help aid its transition back to fully funding itself.

All this means that it is looking increasingly likely that Ireland will request some form of ESM credit line towards the end of the year. This could take two forms:

Precautionary credit line (PCCL): open to eurozone states that have sound economic and financial situation including: sustainable public debt, access to capital markets, sustainable external position and solvent banking system (amongst others).

Enhanced credit line (ECCL): essentially for member states who do not meet the criteria for PCCL but do not require a full bailout programme. Conditions will involve improving shortcomings that prevent PCCL access.

Looking at the above criteria Ireland is likely only to be eligible for the ECCL, given the on-going banking sector issues and the questions over debt sustainability after the bank bailout. The procedure is pretty similar to any other bailout request and given Ireland's relative success in implementing reforms, approval seems likely. Importantly, “enhanced surveillance” (read strict conditions) will apply in either case, so Noonan’s hope that this can be done without further austerity and/or reforms seems unlikely to be fulfilled.

The key aim of such a loan is to gain access to the ECB’s OMT, its bond buying programme. Under a credit line Ireland would be eligible for the OMT as the programme applies the much needed conditionality. The combination of the loan (the size is not particularly important) and the OMT means it may not have to be tapped.

All that said and despite the many resounding endorsements for Ireland’s progress, many problems remain. In particular, toxic loans at Irish banks continue to increase while households struggle under the burden of such loans. The issue of how to deal with the public debt created by the previous round of bank bailouts remains unsettled and leaves a cloud hanging over the Irish economy.

Coalition row over public broadcaster gets nastier by the day in Greece

Ten days ago, we wrote a blog asking, "Will the closure of the public broadcaster set the scene for a coalition showdown in Greece?" Yes, it has. And it's looking nastier by the day.

Greek coalition leaders met for the third time this week yesterday, but failed once again to strike a deal on the future of the country's public broadcaster ERT. This despite Prime Minister Antonis Samaras offering to re-hire as many as 2,000 old employees to resume broadcasting. Democratic Left, one of Samaras's junior coalition partners, could pull out of government as early as today.

This would leave the government with a wafer-thin majority of 153 seats out of 300 in the Greek parliament, although Samaras could try to win support from some of the 14 non-attached MPs on a case-by-case basis. Not ideal only one year after the coalition was formed, although it could avoid the prospect of snap elections.

Democratic Left MPs are currently in talks with the party's leader, Fotis Kouvelis, to make a decision. An announcement is expected shortly.

How did the problems escalate to this point?

Although the closure of ERT instantly flared up coalition tensions, it does seem surprising that the Prime Minister's party New Democracy (ND) has allowed it to get to this point - where a coalition split is a real possibility. On the surface, it seems it would be simpler for ND to give in and re-open ERT at least temporarily (that is after all what even the Greek Council of State suggested). However, this misses the confluence of problems which the Greek government is currently facing:

• The government is falling well behind on the sacking of civil servants and the necessary savings this delivers. It has agreed to dismiss 4,000 public sector workers by the end of this year and put a further 25,000 into the labour reserve (where they receive a reduced salary). Closing ERT instantly delivers up to 2,600 layoffs - though part of old ERT employees would presumably be hired once the revamped broadcaster is created. The EU/IMF/ECB Troika is ramping up the pressure for clear evidence that these promises will be fulfilled.

• The privatisations programme, due to raise €2.6bn this year, is clearly off track. This is mostly due to the failure to sell the natural gas monopoly DEPA. This funding gap must be filled from within the government's existing budget - and no concrete plans have been put forward so far.

• A further €1bn financing gap has opened up in the National Healthcare Provision Organisation (EOPYY), while the Troika remains unconvinced of plans for a new property tax which was forecast by Greece to boost revenue.

• Furthermore, the IMF could suspend the payout of the next tranche of Greek bailout funds due next month unless eurozone leaders plug a €3bn-€4bn shortfall in the country's rescue package. Compared to the internal funding gaps above, this is an external one which has arisen due to euro area national central banks refusing to roll over their holdings of Greek bonds as had been agreed under the last revision of the Greek bailout (as we reported in yesterday's press summary). Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem moved quickly to deny the reports, adding that "the [Greek] programme is fully financed for at least another year."

Therefore, the sum of these factors has escalated the ERT issue into one which could potentially undermine the coalition. The opening up of a new financing gap is hardly surprising, and is actually something we predicted at the start of this year.

As noted above, if the Democratic Left exited the coalition, the Greek government would still hold a majority in parliament, albeit a wafer thin one. Support from the Democratic Left on certain issues could be expected, but would of course no longer be guaranteed.

The Greek government is likely to face some very tough decisions in the near future. An erosion of its power now could make pushing these decisions through significantly more difficult.