Irish Times confirms another emergency Ecofin meeting this week!

Ecofin broke up after two days of talks, with nothing whatsoever agreed or decided.

The Irish Times, this evening has reported, linked here, that there will be another emergency Ecofin meeting, probably this Friday. Earlier, Friday was rumoured as the best day, given the latest EU bank stress test results will also then be announced.

Better clues as to the real problem came from the IMF, as reported in the same report:

"The IMF welcomes the Eurogroup reaffirming their commitment to safeguard stability in the euro area," IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said in a statement.
"We also welcome the ... recognition of the need for a broader, more forward-looking policy response to assist Greece in its efforts to restore growth and competitiveness, and to bolster debt sustainability," she added.

IMF rules require that confirmed financing for one year ahead is available for recipients of its funds, an impossibility in the case of Greece, where further talks on the next bail-out, are not scheduled until September, by which time only 1.7 billion of privatisation assets will have been sold, according to the Greek Finance Minister's statement when arriving back in Athens tonight.