Key, upcoming dates on the euro-crisis calendar
By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch)—If you thought September was eventful, October offers plenty more opportunities for European officials to either soothe or aggravate the euro zone’s long-running debt crisis.
Here’s are some important dates:
Oct. 4 : The European Central Bank takes its show on the road for one of its two yearly Governing Council meetings outside Frankfurt. The meeting in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana isn’t expected to produce any fresh policy moves. ECB President Mario Draghi last month outlined a detailed plan that would see the central bank buy potentially unlimited government bonds in concert with the euro zone’s rescue funds, but first a country must apply for help from the funds and agree to abide by strict policy conditions.
Oct. 8 -9 : Euro-zone finance ministers meet on Oct. 8, followed by a gathering of European Union finance ministers on Oct. 9. Speculation is mounting that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy could finally bite the bullet and make a formal request for a full bailout ahead of the confab, leaving finance ministers to discuss the rescue. See: Rajoy denies near-term bailout request: report.
But a Reuters report indicated German officials are reluctant to go back to parliament to request participation in a full Spanish bailout so soon after agreeing to a smaller rescue of Spanish banks. See: Spain ready for bailout, Germany objects: report .
Oct. 18-19 : If the Oct. 8-9 meeting in Luxembourg doesn’t produce a bailout request, attention is likely to turn to the European Union leaders’ summit on Oct. 18 and 19.
Oct. 21 : Regional politics will also be in the spotlight. Local elections are set to take place in Spain’s Galicia region and Basque Country on Oct. 21. Some observers contend Rajoy may seek to wait until after the elections before making any aid request.
Meanwhile, in the background, officials from Greece’s so-called troika of international lenders—the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and the ECB—have resumed talks with Greek officials over Athens’s compliance with the terms of its bailout.
News reports say the troika is questioning the government’s proposed deficit-reduction measures.
The Greek government wants to present the measures and its 2013 budget to parliament in time for the Oct. 8 meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in an effort to convince European officials to disburse the next tranche of aid for the country, noted analysts at Lloyds Bank in London.
William L. Watts is MarketWatch's European bureau chief, based in Frankfurt.
