From today’s Open Europe news summary:
Welt: ECB “trick” to help Portugal return to the markets
Die Welt reports that the ECB will use a “trick” to help Portugal to return to the markets, by once again adjusting its collateral rules. The change to the rules, released last month, will mean the ECB will continue to accept bonds with a lower rating from the agency DBRS as collateral for its lending operations. Previously, once Portugal had exited its bailout programme, its bonds would no longer have been eligible as collateral as they have low ratings from all four rating agencies. This would have reduced demand and made a return to the markets more difficult, the article argues.
Welt
The ECB will always find some rationale to justify giving more money to bankrupt members. We common folk call this committing a crime, but no EU bureaucrat will ever go to jail for misappropriating billions of euros.
