Quantitative easing

European officials indicated on Monday that they had few hopes for a comprehensive agreement at Thursday's Eurogroup that will pave the way for Greece to join the European Central Bank's quantitative easing plan, despite a French push for a deal.

The draft plan offered to the Greek government during the May 22 EuroGroup included huge primary surplus targets (3.5% of GDP until 2022 and 2.2% from 2023 to 2060). The plan also had no reference to the prospect of Greece entering the ECB’s quantitative easing program. Following is a photo of the May 22 EuroGroup plan Greece finally rejected:

“There is no other proposal other than the one tabled at the EuroGroup”, said a European official in Brussles on Thursday.

Greece may not be offered a substantially improved debt-relief package when euro-area finance ministers discuss its bailout in Luxembourg next month, officials directly involved in the negotiations said.

Greece requires economic liberalization, stressed Prem Watsa, the head of the Fairfax group, while addressing the "Dialogue2" event organized by the Eurolife ERB Insurance Group in Athens on Tuesday.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi took the wind out of the government's sails on Monday, telling the European Parliament that the ECB will not consider including Greece in its quantitative easing program (QE) before the conclusion of its bailout review and its debt is made sustainable.

Greece went into last Monday's Eurogroup hoping for the conclusion of the second review, a disbursal of the next bailout tranche, an agreement on debt relief and a path to the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE) scheme, paving the way for a return to the bond markets and an exit from the adjustment program.

In the aftermath of Greece's failure to seal a deal at last Monday's Eurogroup, the government find itself now with its back against a wall, as the road map outlining the way out of the crisis it had so painstakingly cultivated in recent months, was tossed out.

Greece is nowhere near a swift inclusion in the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE) program, according to senior officials at domestic banks.

Although it appears that there will soon - probably in early June - be an agreement between Berlin and the International Monetary Fund on the lightening of the Greek debt, Athens's road back to international bond markets remains a long one.