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Author
Vidia S. Ramdeen, MPA, SSBB
3829 Gomer Street
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
P: 914-409-7700
E: vramdeen@gmail.com
Biography
Vidia is an Emerging Hedge Fund Manager at Ricochet Alternative Asset Management where is
Founder & CEO. Ricochet manages the Quantico Fund, a multi-strategy global macro hedge
fund. Vidia holds a BA in economics from SUNY Albany and a Master of Public
Administration degree from Pace University where he studied under John Allan James, and is a
6σ Black Belt, a member of Pi Alpha Alpha & an AOM reviewer. NB: Vidia has driven cross
country 6 times, from NY, NY to San Diego, CA. The first trip, accomplished in just over 2 days
(Official Time: 2 days 4 hours 52 minutes.
2
The Wolfson Economics Prize
“If member states leave the Economic Monetary Union, what is the best way for the economic
process to be managed to provide the soundest foundation for the future growth and prosperity
of the current membership?” – The Judges, Wolfson Economics Prize
Executive Summary
Potential instability arising within the European Monetary Union (EMU) with potential
contagion to the global banking system is a function of mishandling of the exit of the most debt
stressed members. Therefore, the process of disintegrating any current member of the EMU,
must be handled strategically and methodically as to ensure the ability for the market to adjust
the flow of new capital into the global economy. Given the circumstance, the purpose is to
provide a frank yet detailed proposal intended to prevent else mitigate contagion which will
unduly cause a free fall of the euro leading to further downgrading of outstanding sovereign
Eurozone debt held by global investors.
The act of exiting the Eurozone, understood to be, in part, a function of defaulting on a
percentage of the debt, therefore allowing the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism
(EFSM) or the (ESM) (Matthias, 2011) to pay the outstanding amount to creditors and issue new
bonds to be purchased by the nation that has exited the Eurozone. However, as to not produce
immediate debt onto the exiting government, the new sovereign debt will remain held by the
EFSM or ESM on a T-Account basis, such that the exiting Eurozone nation will reestablish
economic sovereignty to the point of driving currency valuation against the euro near parity. The
decision for reentry to the Eurozone and repatriation to the euro will then allow repatriated
Eurozone nation to commence repayment on the accounts payable side of the t-account regarding
3
the amortization of the bond (accounts receivable end of the EFSM) repayment of the
outstanding sovereign debt.
The process of managing the repayment of outstanding sovereign debt and in meeting the
interest payable obligation is more readily coordinated via the restructure of the outstanding debt
with the consortium of creditors. There is always a level of risk when purchasing sovereign debt.
The risk is subject to which the restructure reflects the adjusted real value of the debt outstanding
as well as provides new debenture financial instruments at fair market value to raise new funds
and to provide a sort of ‘hedge’ by enabling the purchase of new debt created as a function of the
devaluation arising from restructuring outstanding debt. The holders of new debentures if
holders of the old debentures will receive back invested capital, which is the agreed upon x% of
the outstanding amount payable at maturity including interest plus the contract on the new
debentures payable at maturity.
The dynamic of restructuring, rather than forcing the hand of the market in the short-run,
theoretically will reduce the risk of default and rate of return as a function of shifting the time
constraint to the long run. The long-run economic outcome of debt payments is theoretically a
function of GDP growth/accrued and assumed debt, and therefore the process of reentry and
economic reintegration of the once removed Eurozone member(s) is a function of domestic
economic restructuring.
Additionally, the symbiotic and ostensible simultaneous economic velocity in the transfer
of balance of payments is a function of enabling the proper level of liquidity into the market in a
manner that controls for marginal increases in the rate of inflation. The introduction of
additional liquidity into the global market is a function of maintaining a transfer of debt and
4
currency swaps between the primary market, consisting of the United States, Germany, Japan,
and England. The aforementioned exchange of economic velocity will theoretically take
advantage of the appreciation in currency valuation for these nations speaking to their broad
currency baskets to control for inflationary pressures globally and to facilitate the necessary
liquidity into the markets to enable the facilitation of the transfer of payments. The varying
interest rates of member Eurozone nations, emerging markets, and syndicate nations will be
actively managed to ensure that the 6 month LIBOR average remains stable.
As GDP growth in the emerging markets accelerates, loose monetary policy will allow
nations of the syndicate to purchase the debt of these emerging market members such as Brazil.
Such injection of capital flow from the syndicate nation and removal of Brazilian real from the
market may facilitate the shift in currency appreciation to the bailout/emergency funds,
established to prevent contagion.
5
Introduction
The purpose is to provide a frank yet detailed proposal intended to prevent else mitigate
contagion which will unduly cause a free fall of the euro leading to further downgrading of
outstanding sovereign Eurozone debt held by global investors. Potential instability arising
within the European Monetary Union (EMU) with potential contagion to the global banking
system is a function of mishandling of the exit of the most debt stressed members. Therefore,
the process of disintegrating any current member of the EMU, must be handled strategically and
methodically as to ensure the ability for the market to adjust the flow of new capital into the
global economy.
The current structure of the EMU sovereign debt crisis is not as complex as one may
believe. As oxymoronic as the aforementioned statement may appear, the cumulative debt
structure of the obligations outstanding, as a function of debentures outstanding (accounts
payable), interest payable (i-rates, debt rating, inflation) and debentures held (accounts
receivable), interest earned/accrued (i-rates, debt rating, inflation).
The symbiotic and ostensible simultaneous economic velocity in the transfer of balance
of payments is a function of enabling the proper level of liquidity into the market in a manner
that controls for marginal increases in the rate of inflation. The introduction of additional
liquidity into the global market is a function of maintaining a transfer of debt and currency swaps
between the primary market, consisting of the United States, Germany, Japan, and England that
is designed to take advantage of the appreciation in currency valuation for these nations speaking
to their broad currency baskets to control for inflationary pressures globally and to facilitate the
necessary liquidity into the markets to enable the facilitation of the transfer of payments. The
6
varying interest rates of member Eurozone nations, emerging markets, and syndicate nations will
be actively managed to ensure that the 6 month LIBOR average remains stable.
As GDP growth in the emerging markets accelerates, loose monetary policy will allow
nations of the syndicate to purchase the debt of these emerging market members such as Brazil.
Such injection of capital flow from the syndicate nation and removal of Brazilian real from the
market may facilitate the shift in currency appreciation to the bail-out funds that are designed to
prevent contagion.
The nexus that exists via the economic integration between the 27 Eurozone members
(Henry, 2012) and the ‘monetary syndicate’, that includes the primary debt and currency swaps
market consisting of the United States, Germany, Japan, and England is to be viewed
conceptually as an interrelated web with the secondary debt market consisting of Eurozone
members. Conceptually, the monetary syndicate undergoes positioning in the exterior of the web
and encloses the 27 Eurozone members (Henry, 2012).
The potential influence of China in the sovereign debt market via purchases by the
People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is considerable as China is capable of purchasing excess debt on
the market and can play a facilitator role by providing liquidity to the market, essentially acting
as a market maker. The monetary syndicate nations will operate as an intermediary debt and
currency exchange network capable of injecting liquidity into the market from any syndicate
based central bank into euro zone central and subsequent commercial banks. The Venn diagram
shown in Appendix I, on a basic level, shows the interrelationship between the monetary
syndicate and the 27-N Eurozone members.
7
The act of exiting the Eurozone, understood to be, in part, a function of defaulting on a
percentage of the debt, therefore allowing the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism
(EFSM) or the (ESM) (Matthias, 2011) to pay the outstanding amount to creditors and issue new
bonds to be purchased by the nation that has exited the Eurozone. However, as to not produce
immediate debt onto the exiting government, the new sovereign debt will remain held by the
EFSM or ESM on a T-Account basis, such that the exiting Eurozone nation will reestablish
economic sovereignty to the point of driving currency valuation against the euro near parity. The
decision for reentry to the Eurozone and repatriation to the euro will then allow repatriated
Eurozone nation to commence repayment on the accounts payable side of the t-account regarding
the amortization of the bond (accounts receivable end of the EFSM) repayment of the
outstanding sovereign debt.
The process of managing the repayment of outstanding sovereign debt and in meeting the
interest payable obligation is more readily coordinated via the restructure of the outstanding debt
with the consortium of creditors. There is always a level of risk when purchasing sovereign debt
to which the restructure reflects the adjusted real value of the debt outstanding as well as
provides new debenture financial instruments at fair market value to raise new funds and to
provide a sort of ‘hedge’ by enabling the purchase of new debt created as a function of the
devaluation arising from restructuring outstanding debt. The holders of new debentures if
holders of the old debentures will receive back invested capital, which is the agreed upon x% of
the outstanding amount payable at maturity including interest plus the contract on the new
debentures payable at maturity.
The dynamic of restructuring, rather than forcing the hand of the market in the short-run,
theoretically will reduce the risk of default and rate of return as a function of shifting the time
8
constraint to the long run. The long-run economic outcome of debt payments is theoretically a
function of GDP growth/accrued and assumed debt, and therefore the process of reentry and
economic reintegration of the once removed Eurozone member(s) is a function of domestic
economic restructuring.
A review of the European Union system of governance will be conducted to determine
the policy necessary to facilitate the means necessary to coordinate an economic exit from the
Eurozone. The expectation is for the return to the legacy currency for the exited nation.
Whether the nation is Greece, Italy, Portugal, France, Belgium, or any other Eurozone member
nation, the idea is to return to the legacy currency, restructure the domestic economy and budget
to create jobs and educate the workforce in order to create and fill domestic jobs that directly
contribute to year over year marginal growth in GDP.
As a function of structuring new debt, the issuing syndicate nations with the higher
debt/GDP ratio will have an easy money policy subject to maxima range constraints of the
following: (10 basis points + inflation) and minima = 0. The idea is to encourage investment
into private markets as a function of rising GDP as funded by easy liquidity. The anticipated
nominal zero interest rate for bank deposits and holders of treasury bonds will provide a negative
real interest rate after adjusting for inflation. Any monetary syndicate nation with a lower
debt/GDP ratio may fluctuate from tightening to loosening credit as is best directed by global
macro-economic forces.
The introductory analysis begs the question of what the immediate impact of the
aforementioned would be. Holders of fixed rate mortgages in the U.S. will be subject to less
income in real dollars subject to the rise in prices for consumer basket goods. This increase does
9
erode the value of the higher fixed interest rate by deflating the real rate of return on the
underlying collateral instrument held by the bank to ensure payment of the amortized mortgage
debt obligation. Given the extent of the sovereign debt crisis, the externality for the U.S. market,
is not severe to the point of reconsidering the underlying monetary economic policy.
The major externality in the global market is deflationary and inflationary pressure as
well as instability given declining levels of real GDP growth subject to real decline in the rate of
return of aggregate productivity, a function of the employment rate, underemployment rate, and
the net contribution to GDP after expenses, expressed as a rate (%) of the underlying ratio. The
rate of real productivity from the exited Eurozone nations is a contributing factor in the ability
for the bail-out fund to not require further assistance via quantitative easing from members of the
syndicate nations.
To illustrate, here is an example of quantitative easing to demonstrate the process from
which a monetary syndicate member nation is a function of its underlying currency pair, and in
this case, it is the USD/JPY currency basket. In this case, the pairing has experienced downside
volatility from parity to which the JPY/USD valuation, which has experience upside volatility
from parity, can enable quantitative easing initiated by the Bank of Japan to provide liquidity to
the market. Purchasing of US treasury bonds by the Bank of Japan allows for the European
Central Bank (ECB) and the Deutsche Bundesbank (German Federal Bank) to engage in further
quantitative easing by purchasing debt issued by the Bank of Japan. The combination of the
ECB and the Deutsche Bundesbank can replace more yen in the market with less Deutsche
Marks and Euros, which will effectively control the inflationary effects of quantitative easing.
10
Of importance is to note the expected return in GDP of the underlying contingency
economic plan that supports the appreciation of the legacy currency relative to the global basket
of currencies. The appreciation of the legacy currency will render a new valuation against each
currency as represented by the balance of outstanding debt in euros held by each creditor
(foreign banks and investors holding the sovereign debt of the exited Eurozone member). The
valuation of the legacy currency is a function of the assumed restructured debt amount as
rendered from the converted currency (euro) in exchange for the legacy currency as adjusted for
euros.
The Maastricht Treaty (Nugent, pg. 363, 2006) is the facilitator the European Union (EU)
to which the governing laws as overseen by the European Council and promulgated by the
European Court of Justice (ECJ). Therefore, the Eurozone members are not only economically
integrated by also politically integrated as well. For example, the Third Pillar of the Maastricht
Treaty (Nugent, pg. 368, 2006) enables the “Provisions on Cooperation in the Fields of Justice
and Home Affairs (JHA).” (Nugent. pg. 368, 2006) The Maastricht Treaty since its inception
has been amended and labeled the Amsterdam, Nice, and Lisbon treaties, collectively referred to
as the Treaties of the European Union (Nugent, 2006). Without specific regard to the changes
made over the years, the impact politically and structurally to the exited Eurozone nation is to
include the provisions outlined under the Treaties of the European Union.
The length of time for any exited Eurozone member to reintegrate into the Eurozone may
be a function of years. Over this time, the cost of maintaining Eurozone services as a function of
the treatise provisions will burden the administrative system operations of the exited nation to
which cost of maintenance is prohibitive to growth. Exited Eurozone nations must reestablish
internal political and government administration operations, which do not seek to restrict
11
economic velocity of trade and currency exchange, and do not restrict personal movement of
Eurozone and exited Eurozone members.
Once removed from the Eurozone, industry growth within the domestic economy of the
exited nation will link to multinational comparative advantage relationships that are a function of
manufacturing and intellectual property creation from the exited Eurozone nation. Although the
purpose of this paper is not to detail the macroeconomic activity of the exited Eurozone nation,
for future consideration for reentry, the importance herein is to acknowledge that all efforts
undertaken is to be seen as methods to eventually strengthen the Eurozone. Strengthening as a
function of facilitating reentry of all exited nations once domestic economic GDP is robust to
which the legacy currency is appreciating whilst preventing hyperinflation and year over year
GDP growth is marginally positive.
Conceivably, the exited sovereign member nation economy will be growing at the same
rate as while a member of the EZ, the opportunity to rebuild and restructure the economy is
present and critical to meeting the expectation of investors regarding meeting interest rate
payments on serviceable debt and repayment of debt principle. The devaluation of currency will
seek to establish the national economy as a net exporter to which trade partners are either net
importing nations, or nations that have currency valuations above or at parity. The ability for the
exited EZ member nation to establish trade partnerships with EZ nations enables the exited EZ
member to become a manufacturing hub for EZ nations to the point of advancing global trade.
For example, if Greece does indeed exit the Eurozone, Greece is able to retool the
economy to become a net exporter of durable goods manufacturing such as baby diapers,
formula, and other goods in demand by wealthier nations, including cutting-edge electronics
12
such as televisions, etc. Ideally, Greece’s objective is to become a supply-chain economy, which
is, become an economy that is strategic to the supply chain development of major existing
corporations and emerging companies with guaranteed contracts. Considering the low nominal
value of Greek currency, the selling of manufactured goods from Greece to the EZ will enable
Greek banks to hold euro deposits in exchange for the drachma.
Trading in and out of the EU as a function of purchasing Greek manufactured goods will
avail a global supply of market competitive consumer durable and non-durable goods. The value
of the euro renders goods from legacy currency nations to be relatively inexpensive to the euro
currency basket. Trade from the EZ to wholesalers or direct to retailers in a country with an
exchange rate competitive to the euro will yield the comparative advantage of being able to
import consumer durables at a price either lower or at least competitive to the internal
manufacturing cost.
Additionally, such consumer non-durable and some durable goods produced perhaps
more competitive than what the trade nation GDP contribution as an exporter of identical goods.
Such a strategy will work in a market to which there are little to no substitutable goods or to
which there is an elastic demand curve for substitutes relative to the availability of a lower priced
substitute. Additionally, examining the complementary goods market in trade partner nations
will reveal consumer goods arbitrage opportunities to manufacture complementary goods, such
as ketchup to a nation with high hot dog consumption, Ceteris Paribus. The ESM has the power
to provide direct capital investment into the exited sovereign nation. The capital injection is
necessary to procure manufacturing plant, property, and equipment necessary to add value over
debt to the domestic economy.
13
Literature Review
The amount of recent literature to include scholarly and non-scholarly works covering the
Eurozone crisis in aggregate is copious. The central theme, interpreted as the consensus
evaluation of the outstanding literature renders the use of austerity measures without rectifying
the underlying dysfunction, whilst seeking a plan to mitigate the risk of a free falling euro and
actively seeking to avoid the downgrading of sovereign debt. Inclusively, the aforementioned do
remain a function of the probability of contagion of one or more highly indebted nations upon
the release of a single member of the Eurozone in default.
Of primary importance to the literature review is the understanding of EU law and the
constraints placed by the Maastricht Treaty on the Eurozone members with regard to receiving
any form of bailout funding as well as on leaving the formally integrated Eurozone, a function of
EU membership. The relinquishing of the euro is only one aspect of the process in removal from
the EZ. The political process and organizational dynamic of belonging to the EU involves
administrative offices and national services that facilitate cross-border travel and commerce
between EZ members. An exit from the EZ will restrict the movement of EZ and non-EZ
members from the exited EZ member nation as well as hinder trade and commerce, and
obfuscate the immigration and visa administrative procedures once handled by the EU.
Additionally, the objective of the Literature Review is to provide a background into the
content of the crisis as well as the direct content as stated by individuals in and around the
Eurozone crisis. The latter essentially is to provide quoted word-for-word detail that does not
alter the semantics or syntax regarding the insight behind the selected chosen words. Therefore,
there is little paraphrasing and in-text citation, rather, there is direct quotation given the
14
importance of specificity. The importance of understanding the precise thoughts of political and
financial leaders as well as business economists and business journalists is critical to the
complexity of the scope in argument over the actions necessary to resolve the Eurozone
sovereign debt crisis.
The European Debt Crisis and European Union Law (Matthias, 2011), provides the most
critical points to consider in discussion of European Law under the auspice of the current
Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis. Specifically, Matthias’ argument does consider at length the
effect on the EU with regard to the debt crisis and the loss of member nations. Matthias provides
a very detailed synopsis of the crisis from the purview of EU law as well as the purview of the
potential disintegration of the Eurozone.
The structure of the Matthias argument compares EU law and parliamentary duty to the
actual political and economic actions taken to prevent a default of the most egregious of default
candidates. The decision to include much of the Matthias analysis and argument in the Literature
Review, rendered due to the specific context of EU law as well as the analysis to market
dynamics to include policy recommendations that do establish a framework on which stability in
the markets is very conceivable.
According to Matthias, 2011, “The analysis will reveal most disturbing risks for three
core issues of European Union law – nothing less than the integrity of European
constitutionalism, the future of democratic Government in the EU and the conservation of wealth
and stability (which are also legal values). This development has an impact on the future of
European Union law and its scholarship, as well.” (Matthias, 2011)
15
Matthias, 2011, continues to describe the manipulation of government reporting
regarding the integrity of Greek debt to which the data had been “statistically manipulated”
(Matthias, 2011) in Q4 of 2009 to “conceal its true public debt and was practically bankrupt.”
(Matthias, 2011) The first bailout package (110 billion over 3 years) (Matthias, 2011) presented
as a loan to Greece involving “the euro area countries and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF).” (Matthias, 2011). Greece is therefore indebted to “the euro area Member States (euro
80 billion) and the IMF (euro 30 billion).” (Matthias, 2011)
The terms of the first bailout package included interest rate modifications that effectively
lowered “the interest rates by 1%, and extended maturity to 7.5 years. Up to September 2011,
euro 65 billion have been disbursed, euro 47.1 thereof by the euro area countries. The
implementation is surveyed by a “troika” legal expert team of the Commission, the European
Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF.” (Matthias, 2011) Therefore, should Greece exit the
Eurozone, the remaining percentage owed after the restructuring of the Eurozone debt of 80
billion as well as the IMF debt of 30 billion including, accrued interest will still be owed and
represented by the first generation of debt issuance.
Further analysis by Matthias, 2011 reveals, in opinion, a method to avoid contagion. “It
is important to note that the operation of the ESM will include private sector involvement. If it is
concluded, after a debt sustainability analysis in line with IMF practice, “that a macro-economic
adjustment programme can realistically restore the public debt to a sustainable pathi
”, the main
private creditors are to be encouraged to maintain their exposures. If this is denied, negotiations
between the Member States concerned and the private creditors must be initiated following a
plan to be included in the macro-economic programme and led by the principles of
proportionality, transparency, fairness and cross-border co-ordination (to avoid the risk of
16
contagion). The negotiations will be supported by standardized collective action clauses
(CAC’s) “consistent with the CACs that are common in New York and English law” for new
loans after 2013, the exact content of such clauses being meticulously described in the EMS
agreement.” (Matthias, 2011)
With regard to the question of whether EU law has been or will be breached given the
process of exiting the Eurozone or the process of servicing outstanding debt obligations by EZ
members, according to Matthias (2011), the breach occurred as a function of “rescuing activity.”
(Matthias, 2011) “From the beginning, the Member States’ rescuing activity has been under
close legal scrutiny by the European legal scholars, and rightly so. There are good reasons to
submit that this policy is in breach of important provisions of the TFEU (Article 136).”
(Matthias, 2011)
Further, according to Matthias, (2011), “To begin with, Article 125ii
TFEU is rather
explicit: “The Union shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central Governments
… of any Member State, … A Member State shall not be liable for or assume the commitments
of central Governments . . . of another Member State, …” In the present legal situation, a bailout
by the Union (first sentence) or by one or more Member States (second sentence) is forbiddeniii
.
As a result, the decision of the Eurogroup of 2 May 2010 concerning Greece, the establishment
of the EFSF, the extension of both in 2011 and the Eurogroup’s support for Ireland and Portugal
are in breach of European Union law.” (Matthias, 2011)
Additionally, Matthias (2011) does point to the reasoning behind the decision to support
austerity as flawed as in unconvincing enough to breach EU law. “None of the counter-
arguments brought forward against this reasoning is really convincing. The argument, that the
17
wording “shall not be liable for or assume the commitments” was related to a duty of liability or
assumption of commitment, and that consequently a deliberate support was not contrary to
Article 125iv
TFEU was explicitly enshrined in the Treaty together with other articles – above all
Articles 123, 124 and 126 FEU –to force the Member States to take up loans solely under the
conditions of the financial markets and thus to consolidate their public spending for the benefit
of the stability of the common currency.v
” (Matthias, 2011)
Even the prospect of deliberate help by some Member States would operate against this
target. In fact, other voices point at that ratio: a rule designed to stabilize the euro could not be
put into place against measures aiming at the same stabilization – such as the rescue packages for
the Member States in troublevi
. This argument appears, when the Eurogroup claims to act “to
safeguard financial stability in the euro area as a whole”, and it should not be easily dismissed.
However, it is not valid in all of the cases at hand. The Greek part of the European economy is
much too small and the options for the restructuring of debts are much too obvious – the
safeguarding of financial stability did not demand a breach of the lawvii
. But even if this was
denied for Greece, at least in the Irish and Portuguese case it becomes apparent that a shift of the
system from a strict “no-bailout” to mutual support cannot be achieved by the mere re-
interpretation of a core article of the Treaties or an “implicit modification”viii
, even if one
considers a discretionary margin in favour of the Member States’ Governments in matters of
economic emergency action.” (Matthias, 2011)
In a sense, one cannot exclusively hold Greece accountable for the Eurozone sovereign
debt crisis. The global economy has been slow to grow year over year GDP to the point of
mounting debt obligations and the servicing of said obligations. Although there has been
tremendous growth in the emerging and frontier markets, the growth experienced in these areas
18
has spurred inflation, which is still a reflection of an economy seeking maturation. The decision
to enable Greece into the Eurozone rendered under the suspicion of impropriety as Greece,
expected to be an inferior economic contributor and somewhat of a ‘weak link’ to the monetary
operations of the Eurozone. The actuality is of a handful of nations in the Eurozone that are
potentially in danger of default, which is a default in euros, which will cause severe problems to
the value of the currency as well as the downgrading of debt, potentially by the three debt rating
agencies.
Further analysis from Matthias (2011) reveals the following. “In addition, the basis for
the ECB’s security markets programme is rather weak, as Article 123 TFEU explicitly prohibits
the purchase of debt instruments from “central Governments, regional, local or other public
authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of Member States”. Of
course, it must be added that the prohibition only applies if such instruments are “purchased
directly.” This very prohibition aims at avoiding the direct financing of States (or other public
entities) by the ECB to undertake some open market operations in the fine-tuning of its monetary
policy (Art. 18 ECB Statute), but not to circumvent the prohibition of financial support for
Member States. If for instance Italian State bonds are bought by the ECB, this is currently done
to keep them marketable and to keep interest rates at a lower level for Italy – and this is beyond
what the bank is empowered to do under Article 123 TFEU and Article 18 of its Statute.
Moreover, many of the bonds bought by the ECB are not “marketable instruments’ any more,
due to the weakness of the debtor (in this case of Greece)ix
.” (Matthias, 2011)
Matthias (2011) goes on to question the compatibility of the IMF with “its Treaty
powers” (Matthias, 2011) and the implications to “public international law” (Mathias, 2011).
“As far as the legal system of the EU is concerned, even if a view was taken that stresses the
19
counter-arguments against the illustrated position, it would still be most disturbing that a
complete shift in the EMU had been undertaken without setting aside the legal doubts. In its
judgment of 7 September 2011, the Bundesverfassungsgericht upholds the German legislation
implementing the Greek package and the EFSF. The Court concentrates on German
constitutional law and only marginally (but rather explicitly) underlines the stabilizing function
of Articles 123 and 125 TFEU together with a line of other articlesx
. Earlier in 2010, the former
French minister of finance, Christine Lagarde, quite openly admitted the unimportance of the
Treaties for the policy options takenxi
. In a European Union based on constitutional foundations,
this is not a reassuring perspective.” (Matthias, 2011)
Clearly, what Matthias (2011) has described as stated by former French minister of
finance is to ostensibly stress the importance of the economic sovereignty of the euro as
paramount and supersedes the governance and oversight of the EU law. However, the Treaty
may inset an addendum to facilitate the ESM. According to Matthias (2011), “The new Article
136 TEU which will enable the creation of the ESM is intended to be inserted by a Treaty
amendment following a simplified revision procedure under Article 48xii
TEU due to the
profound changes in the EMU’s institutional structure. However, there is no increase of “the
competence conferred on the Union in the Treaties” – in which case the simplified procedure
would be excluded -, as the proposed section empowers the Member States, not the EU.
Consequently, the doubts raised are at least far less serious compared with the other points made
herexiii
.” (Matthias, 2011)
However, Matthias does express concern regarding the facilitation of the ESM “as a new
structure for emergency action outside the EU’s own institutional framework.” (Matthias, 2011)
Additionally, according to Matthias (2011), “The ESM appears to be a regional copy of the IMF,
20
and it is totally “intergovernmental”; even more so, it is deliberately shaped as a tool for
international cooperation beyond the EU level. Of course, the Member States are free to found
new international organizations among themselves as a matter of principle, which may also
include the marginal involvement of the common institutions as long as there is no judicial body
of the new organizations among themselves as a matter of principle, which may also include the
marginal involvement of the common institutions as long as there is no judicial body of the new
organization competent to adjudicate in EU law mattersxiv
. Nonetheless, the erection of a new
international institution enhances the complexity of the design of European integration, and it
also sidesteps some crucial features of the EU’s institutional concept, which should strive for
more transparency and not for a complex plurality.” (Matthias, 2011)
Matthias (2011) continues to address the concerns of the EU citizens, which he describes
to be in regard to the “future of welfare and stability in the EU and, in this context, the question
whether the tools chosen by the political actors are viable. According to Article 3 TEU, the
Union promotes “the well-being of its peoples”. The economic side of this aim is further
developed in sections 3 and 4 of the same article, including the principle of price stability
(Article 3, 2nd
sentence TEU). The risk that the ESM might conflict with this principle is
obvious. The existing legal construction of the EMU following the Maastricht Treaty and the
Stability and Growth Pact (SGP-1997) is one of strict stability which does not allow for
emergency intervention because the prospect of such intervention would jeopardize the
incentives to perform a solid budgetary and financial policy in the Member States.” (Matthias,
2011)
Perhaps of the most important contribution Matthias has made to the Eurozone Sovereign
Debt Crisis is the following. According to Matthias (2011), “It is one of the most important
21
elements of the EMU that it contained two rules limiting public debt from the outset: the 3% -
limit for new debt and the 60%-limit for overall debt. In such a framework, a State debt that
cannot be discharged needs restructuring with all consequences for the State concerned, in
particular concerning future interest rates. Price stability is enhanced if a Member State must
always take into account the risk of debt restructuring. The EFSF and the EFSM are thus a clear
deviance from a legal concept.” (Matthias, 2011)
With regard to the ECJ intervention capability, Matthias (2011) states the ECJ “can only
intervene in the framework of Article 273 TFEU. Though the ESM is outside the institutional
framework of the EU, its core principles have to be respected because the mechanism functions –
via Article 1 36 TFEU – as an instrument to overcome the obstacles to establish a rescue
mechanism within the Treaties. Requirements of national constitutional law might be added, as
the German Bundesverfassungsgericht held that “mechanisms of considerable financial
importance which can lead to incalculable burdens on the budget” would be impossible without
mandatory approval by the German Bundestag.xv
” (Matthias, 2011)
The path to requisition as described by Matthias (2011), “Out of the four measures within
the reform package related to budgetary control, three concern the preventive limb, which first of
all is reformed by a directive implementing prudent fiscal policy-making as a new principle of
budgetary governance. Annual expenditure growth is oriented towards a “prudent medium-term
rate of growth of GDP.” “Revenue windfalls” are to be used for debt reduction, not for
excessive expenditure. Benchmarks are to be established by the Commission, and in case of
deviance from these benchmarks, the Commission may issue a warning or the Council may (if
the deviance is persistent and/or particularly serious) take corrective action under 121xvi
TFEU.88.” (Matthias, 2011)
22
The implications to EU law & EU economic governance (Matthias, 2011), according to
Matthias (2011), “The evaluation of European economic governance during the last eighteen
months does not concern legal details and jurisprudential niceties. It is no exaggeration that
some core principles of European Union law are at stake. Whether in the evaluation of
emergency reaction or in the field of economic governance, three most disturbing questions had
to be asked: about the integrity of European constitutionalism, about the future of democratic
institutions in Europe, and about the conservation of wealth and stability as legal values in EU
law.” (Matthias, 2011)
In support of the EU law and the euro, Matthias (2011) closes with the following.
“Doubts about the operability of a common currency in Europe are back in the discussion, and
some scholars even feel an inclination for scientific support of EU –critics or adversaries to the
EMU. But neither overdone or apology nor distinct rejection are helpful to serve as an overall
direction of European legal scholarship. What is needed the most is an orientation towards the
core principles of European Union Law. After all, the success of the EU in bringing forward
peace, common European values and the well-being of its peoples is to a large extent, if not
primarily, due to the concept of “integration through law”. Integration is on its way following
the Lisbon Treaty, the euro has been the common currency for more than ten years now, and all
this should not be jeopardized easily. It is the loss in public support caused by the developments
that is most disturbing.” (Matthias, 2011)
The next literature in review is “The Failure of the Euro” The Little Currency That
Couldn’t” (Feldstein, 2012). Feldstein’s argument is central to the discussion of whether the
euro should prevail as an integrating exchange unit for a politically and economically integrated
network. In the words of Feldstein (2012), “The euro should now be recognized as an
23
experiment that failed. This failure, which has come after just over a dozen years since the euro
was introduced, in 1999, was not an accident or the result of bureaucratic mismanagement but
rather the inevitable consequence of imposing a single currency on a very heterogeneous group
of countries.” (Feldstein, 2012)
The next segment of the Feldstein argument defines the euro as an experimental currency
doomed to fail. According to Feldstein (2012), “The adverse economic consequences of the euro
include the sovereign debt crises in several European countries, the fragile condition of major
European banks, high levels of unemployment across the Eurozone, and the large trade deficits
that now plague most Eurozone countries. The political goal of creating a harmonious Europe
has also failed. France and Germany have dictated painful austerity measures in Greece and
Italy as a condition of their financial help, and Paris and Berlin have clashed over the role of the
European Central Bank and over how the burden of financial assistance will be shared.”
(Feldstein, 2012)
Feldstein argues that a single currency must come with a “single fixed exchange rate
within the monetary union and the same exchange rate relative values. Economists explained
that the euro would therefore lead to greater fluctuations in output and employment, a much
slower adjustment to declines in aggregate demand, and persistent trade imbalances between
Europe and the rest of the world. Indeed, all these negative outcomes have occurred in recent
years.” (Feldstein, 2012)
The use of policy issued by the ECB designed to curb inflation, according to Feldstein
(2012), “caused interest rates to fall in countries such as Italy and Spain, where expectations of
high inflation had previously kept interest rates high. Households and governments in those
24
countries responded to the low interest rates by increasing their borrowing, with households
using the increased debt to finance a surge in home building and housing prices and government
using it to fund larger social programs. The result was rapidly rising ratios of public and private
debt to gdp in several countries, including Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Spain.” (Feldstein, 2012)
Feldstein argues the rising debt to GDP ratio in the aforementioned several countries
including Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Spain, is the harbinger that will cause the euro to ultimately
crash, rendering the outstanding debt to junk and lowering each respective sovereign debt rating
to junk status. Due to the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, the debt issued by each Eurozone
member was viewed to be as guaranteed as the German Bund and therefore Greece and Italy
issued bonds with rates only a few basis points below that of the Bund long-term rates.
Feldstein continues to state the following. “But the plan to increase the banks’ capital has
not worked, because banks do not want to dilute the holdings of their current shareholders by
seeking either private or public capital, and so instead they have been raising their capital ratios
by reducing their lending, particularly to borrowers in other countries, causing a further
slowdown in European economic activity. Nor can the efsf borrow the additional funds, since
such a move is opposed by Germany, the largest potential guarantor of that debt. Moreover,
even a trillion euros would not give the efsf enough funds to provide effective guarantees to
potential buyers of Italian and Spanish debt if those countries might otherwise appear insolvent.”
(Feldstein, 2012)
Feldstein (2012) further states the supposed instability of the Eurozone as well as the lack
of a provision within the Maastricht Treaty (Feldstein, 2012) for a Eurozone member to return to
their legacy currency. According to Feldstein (2012), “The alternative is for Greece to leave the
25
Eurozone and return to its own currency. Although there is no provision in the Maastricht Treaty
for such a move, political leaders in Greece and other countries are no doubt considering that
possibility. Although Greece is benefiting from its membership in the Eurozone by receiving
transfers from other Eurozone countries, it is paying a very high price in terms of unemployment
and social unrest. Abandoning the euro now and creating a new drachma would permit a
devaluation and a default that might involve much less economic pain than the current course.”
(Feldstein, 2012)
Feldstein also considers Germany to be at great risk when evaluating the risk posed by
Greece and the potential contagion of Italy and Portugal to follow. According to Feldstein
(2012), “Germany is now prepared to pay to try to keep Greece from leaving the Eurozone
because it fears that a Greek defection could lead to a breakup of the entire monetary union,
eliminating the fixed exchange rate that now benefits German exports and the German economy
more generally. If Greece leaves and devalues, global capital markets might assume that Italy
will consider a similar strategy. The resulting rise in the interest rate on its debt might then drive
Italy to in fact do so. And if Italy reverts to a new lira and devalues it relative to other
currencies, the competitive pressure might force France to leave the Eurozone and devalue a new
franc. At that point, the emu would collapse.” (Feldstein, 2012)
The process of leaving the EZ, as described by Feldstein (2012), may trigger a contiguous
chain of events likely to destabilize the EU and cause a potential bank run on the exited EZ
nation, for instance, Greece.
According to Feldstein (2012), “Even though Germany is prepared to subsidize Greece
and other countries to sustain the euro, Greece and others might nevertheless decide to leave the
26
monetary union if the conditions imposed by Germany are deemed too painful. Here is how that
might work: although Greece cannot create the euros it needs to pay civil servants and make
transfer payments, the Greek government could start creating new drachmas and declare that all
contracts under Greek law, including salaries and shop prices, are payable in that currency;
similarly, all bank deposits and bank loans would be payable in these new drachmas instead of
euros. The value of the new drachma would fall relative to the euro, automatically reducing real
wages and increasing Greek competitiveness without requiring Greece to go through a long and
painful period of high unemployment. Instead, the lower value of the Greek currency would
stimulate exports and a shift from imports to domestic goods and services. This would boost
Greek gdp growth and unemployment.” (Feldstein, 2012)
Political risks remain with regard to the exited EZ nation, for instance Greece, with
regard to the forced exit from the EU considering no provision exists under the Maastricht Treaty
detailing the manner in which a Eurozone member is to discharge from the Union. According to
Feldstein (2012), “Another serious problem for Greece in making the transition to the new
drachma would be the political risk of being forced out of the EU. Since the Maastricht Treaty
provides no way for a member of the Eurozone to leave, there is the risk that the other Eurozone
members would punish Greece by requiring it to leave the EU as well, causing Greece to lose the
benefits that the EU offers of free trade and labor mobility. They might do so to discourage Italy
and others from pursuing a similar exit strategy. But not all EU members would necessarily seek
such a punishment, especially since ten of the 27 EU member countries do not use the euro and
Greece’s situation is clearly more desperate than that of Italy or Spain.” (Feldstein, 2012)
Given the level of Debt/GDP x > 100% which equates to negative net GDP growth for
Greece, the notion of a restructure is intuitive. Additionally, the restructuring will allow Greece
27
to reduce its involvement in the EZ and facilitate a move out. According to Feldstein (2012),
“The primary practical problem with leaving the Eurozone would be that some Greek businesses
and individuals have borrowed in euros from banks outside Greece. Since those loans are not
covered by Greek law, the Greek government cannot change these debt obligations from euros to
new drachmas. The decline in the new drachma relative to the euro would make it much more
expensive for Greek debtors to repay those loans. Widespread bankruptcies of Greek individuals
and businesses could result, with secondary effects on the Greek banks that those individuals and
businesses have borrowed from.” (Feldstein, 2012)
Recent developments from the EZ have indicated a debt write-down of a percentage on
the dollar outstanding as agreed upon by the debt holders seeking restitution. According to
Feldstein, (2012), “But as the experience of Argentina after it ended its link to the dollar in 2002
showed, domestic Greek debtors might end up paying only a fraction of those euro debts. For
Greece, the option to leave the monetary union may therefore be very tempting. Greece’s
departure need not tempt Italy, Spain, or others to leave. For them, the cost of leaving could
exceed that of adjusting their economies while remaining inside the Eurozone. Unlike Greece,
they can avoid insolvency by adjusting their budget and trade deficits without radical changes in
policy.” (Feldstein, 2012)
Within the framework of the argument put forth by Feldstein, Greece’s economic outlook
within the Eurozone is as bleak as the Debt/GDP ratio. The ability to pay back the outstanding
debt in aggregate is impossible and represents the fault of all involved, including the investors, as
the necessary due diligence was not performed to render Greece’s financial instability and the
misrepresentations on the balance sheet. Although the impropriety, initiated by Greece, the
28
investors obligingly accepted the risk of Greek sovereign debt should have foreseen the risk of
default should the global economic conditions unravel a sort of downside tail-risk.
Feldstein (2012) has included a synopsis of the mitigation plans discussed by the German
Chancellor and the Eurozone officials. The three-plan approach, which is essentially a Plan A,
Plan B, and Plan C, implemented to prevent contagion and enable the security and growth of the
EU after the exit of a member EZ nation. According to Feldstein (2012), “Commercial banks
should increase their capital ratios and that the size of the European Financial Stability Facility
(efsf), which had been created in May 2010 to finance government borrowing by Greece and
other Eurozone countries, should be expanded from 400 billion euros to more than a trillion
euros. This latter move was meant to provide insurance guarantees that would allow Italy and
potentially Spain to access capital markets at a reasonable interest rates.” (Feldstein, 2012)
Plan A, mentioned above, seeks to recapitalize the banks. However, this is identical to
the English adage of ‘throwing good money after bad money’. The following paragraph,
according to Feldstein (2012), details why recapitalization did not work. “The plan to increase
the banks’ capital has not worked, because banks do not want to dilute the holdings of their
current shareholders by seeking either private or public capital, and so instead they have been
raising their capital ratios by reducing their lending, particularly to borrowers in other countries,
causing a further slowdown in European economic activity. Nor can the efsf borrow the
additional funds, since such a move is opposed by Germany, the largest potential guarantor of
that debt. Moreover, even a trillion euros would not give the efsf enough funds to provide
effective guarantees to potential buyers of Italian and Spanish debt if those countries might
otherwise appear insolvent.” (Feldstein, 2012)
29
The second strategy (advocated by France) (Feldstein, 2012) and third strategy, according
to Feldstein (2012), are suggested to be quantitative easing by the ECB and a move to a “fiscal
union” (Feldstein, 2012). The following paragraph details Plan B with regard to the Eurozone
exit. According to Feldstein (2012), “The ecb to buy the bonds of Italy, Spain, and other
countries with high debt to keep their interest rates low. The ecb has already been doing this to a
limited extend, but not enough to stop Greek ad Italian rates from reaching unsustainable levels.
Asking the ecb to expand this policy would directly contradict the “no bailout” terms of the
Maastricht Treaty. Germany opposes such a move because of its inflationary potential and the
risk of losses on those bonds. (Two German members of the ecb’s executive board have
resigned over this issue.) (Feldstein, 2012)
The third strategy, according to Feldstein (2012), “is favored by those figures, such as
(German Chancellor Angela) Merkel, who want to use the current crisis to advance the
development of a political union. They call for a fiscal union in which those countries with
budget surpluses would transfer funds each year to the countries running budget deficits and
trade deficits. In exchange for these transfers, the European Commission would have the
authority to review national budgets and force countries to adopt policies that would reduce their
fiscal deficits, increase their growth, and raise their international competitiveness.” (Feldstein,
2012)
Feldstein (2012) also believes the EZ will continue without losing any current member
nations. “Looking ahead, the Eurozone is likely to continue with almost all its current members.
The challenge now will be to change the economic behavior of those countries. Formal
constitutionally mandated balanced-budget rules of the type recently adopted by Germany, Italy,
and Spain would, if actually implemented, put each country’s national debt on a path to a
30
sustainable level. New policies must avoid current account deficits in the future by limiting the
volume of national imports to amounts that can be financed with export earnings and direct
foreign investment. Such measures should make it possible to sustain the euro without future
crises and without the fiscal transfers that are now creating tensions within Europe.” (Feldstein,
2012)
The Editorial Comment (2011) of the Common Market Law Review provides a detailed
synopsis of the process regarding the most logical of the possible debt restructurings. According
to Editorial Comment (2011), “Firstly, concerning the private Greek debt restructuring, the
officially released Euro Summit statement merely states that Greece, private investors and all
parties concerned are invited to develop a voluntary bond exchange with a nominal discount of
50 percent on notional Greek debt held by private investors. There is thus no real banking deal
yet. In the early hours of 27 October, the Euro leaders only reached an agreement on a 50
percent haircut with the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the lobby group representing the
banking sector. The Euro leaders had placed the IIF between a rock and a hard place: if the
banks did not agree to accept a substantial debt restructuring, the political leaders would no
longer remain opposed to a disorderly Greek default.” (Editorial Comment, 2011)
The stipulations regarding a default strategy for the largest debtor, according to the
Editorial Comment (2011) “will only stand if at least 90 percent of the individual banks
voluntarily accept then. It is not certain yet that this will actually happen. Only in this scenario
could the activation of Credit Default Swaps (CDS contracts) be avoided, which would saddle
certain insurance companies with billion dollar claims. In addition, it must also not be
overlooked that the deal only concerns debt restructuring imposed on the private sector. This
represents about half of the total Greek debt. The rest of the debt remains in the public hands.
31
Thanks to this deal, if it ever materializes, and in combination with planned structural reforms of
the economy, Greece could possibly aim for a government debt GDP ratio of 120 percent by
2020, which is still double the maximum amount permitted under the terms of the SGP. Greece
is thus handed a lifeline, nothing else. In any event, austerity will be the order of the day for
many years to come in Greece.” (Editorial Comment, 2011)
The bailout or emergency fund is also critical to the argument put forth by the Editorial
Comment (2011) as the fund is the measure by the Euro-17 to maximize efforts to ensure
protection against contagion. According to the Editorial Comment (2011), “In other words, the
Euro-17 countries did not deposit any further own resources in the fund. Rather, they preferred
to explore two other options to leverage the resources of the EFSF: 1) providing credit
enhancement to new government debt, thereby reducing the funding cost. The option to
purchase this risk insurance would be offered to private investors. 2) Maximizing the funding
arrangements of the EFSF with a combination of resources from private and public financial
institutions and investors from emerging markets such as China or Brazil via the use of Special
Purpose Vehicles. The Euro Summit Statement indicates that the EFSF can use both these
options simultaneously, and that the leverage effect of each option could be up to four or five.
Taking into account that there currently still is some 200–250 billion euros in the coffers from
the EFSF, this could possibly result in a firewall of 1000 billion euros.” (Editorial Comment,
2011)
Since an escape clause is not included in the Maastricht Treaty the recommended course
of action as stated by Editorial Comment (2011) is to amend the Treaty. According to the
Editorial Comment (2011), “For all the commotion about the 50 percent write-off of private
Greek debt and the virtual 1000 billion euro in the EFSF, it cannot conceal the reality that – a
32
number of measures of secondary importance notwithstanding – no concrete decisions have been
taken with regard to the governance structure of the Eurozone. There are essentially two options
available to put this right: either we revise the Treaty, or we stay within the existing Treaty
frameworkxvii
. The former option has the unmistakable advantage that the birth defect of the
Euro can be rectified once and for all, namely the fact that monetary policy became a Union
competence, whereas economic policy essentially remained a national competencexviii
.”
(Editorial Comment, 2011)
The procedure with regard to Treaty change, described by the Editorial Comment (2011)
as a viable opportunity for sovereign government to obtain greater control over EU affairs as
negotiated and thereby amended in the Treatise. According to the Editorial Comment (2011),
“The procedure may prove to be a cumbersome once again: the UK, for instance may very well
seize the opportunity to renegotiate the British terms of EU membership and try to bring certain
competencies back home. All this means that the latter option, of trying to find a workable
solution on the basis of the existing Treaty framework, is the more likely one. Articles 121 and
126 TFEU provide little room for manoeuvre in this respect. The residual Article 352 TFEU
might also be considered, but Article 352 TFEU requires unanimity in the Council: and besides,
the EU Court of Justice has limited use of the Article 352 TFEU in practice.xix
. This arguably
leaves Article 136 TFEU as the best option for the Euro Member States to introduce any changes
to the Euro governance structure. But everything will hinge upon the willingness of the
European institutions to accommodate eventual changes under Article 136 TFEU.” (Editorial
Comment, 2011)
The next literature in review is “The European Debt Crisis and European Union Law”
Ruffert (2011). The Ruffert work is of particular importance as there is detailed reference to the
33
policy amendments necessary for the ESM to ensure the sanctity of the euro and retain each
member state. According to Ruffert (2011), “The Treaty amendment should be ratified as
quickly as possible to ensure that the new paragraph enters into force on 1 January 2013 already.
The ESM will follow the EFSF in June 2013; the EFSM will not be continued after that date.
The ESM is established according to the model of the IMF with an effective lending capacity of
500 billion euros (subject to renewal) to be used for financial assistance “on the basis of strict
policy conditionality under a macro-economic adjustment programme and a rigorous analysis of
public-debt sustainability.” It will be an institution of the Member States of the euro area that
gives other Member States the opportunity to participate “on an ad hoc basis.xx
” As a matter of
fact, the new ESM will be created by a Treaty between the euro area Member States “As a matter
of fact, the new ESM will be created by a Treaty between the euro area Member States “as an
intergovernmental organization under public international law” located in Luxembourg. Hence,
we are going to be faced with a public international legal SPV or a European mirror image of the
IMF – according to the perspective one takes. Member States joining the euro area will
automatically become a member of the ESM.” (Ruffert, 2011)
Ruffert (2011) describes the reorganization as the following. “The international
organization will be governed by the Ministers of Finance of the euro area. Member States
forming its Board of Governors – the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the
President of the ECB holding observer status. The Board will elect a “Chairperson” and decide
by qualified majority according to the Member States respective capital subscriptions (80%
being defined as the qualified majority) or by mutual agreement (unanimity without abstentions
preventing adoption) in the most important cases: the granting of financial assistance (including
terms and conditions), the fixing of the ESM lending capacity and changes in the menu of
34
instruments. Internal disputes are to be settled by the Board of Governors, subject to submission
to the ECJ under Article 273 TFEU.” (Ruffert, 2011)
Additionally, Ruffert (2011) details the capital structure of the ESM (Ruffert, 2011) such
that the debt rating is to be at or near AAA. According to Ruffert (2011), “The total capital will
amount to 700 billion euros, thus a substantial augmentation of the current capital of the EFSF
(440 billion). What is more, the ESM will be provided with a paid-in capital of 80 billion phased
in by the Member States in five equal annual instalments from 2013 to 2017 following the paid-
in capital key of the ECB (e.g. France: 20.3859%, Spain: 11.9037%, Germany: 27.1464%). The
contribution key is also relevant for qualified majority voting. To implement Article 136 TFEU
(after the envisaged amendment), the ESM can intervene by loans subject to strict conditionality
under a macro-economic adjustment programme.” (Ruffert, 2011)
The safety net provided by ESM, deemed as “stability support” (Ruffert, 2011), is
intended to prevent the need to enact Plan B which is quantitative easing. According to Ruffert
(2011), “The purchase of bonds of the Member State that is in severe financing problems. In this
cases, the ESM takes over what was initially implemented with the ECB’s security markets
programme and later transferred to the EFSF. It is important to note that the operation of the
ESM will include private sector involvement. If it is concluded, after a debt sustainability
analysis in line with IMF practice, “that a macro-economic adjustment programme can
realistically restore the public debt to a sustainable path,” the main private creditors are to be
encouraged to maintain their exposures. If this is denied, negotiations between the Member State
concerned and the private creditors must be initiated following a plan to be included in the
macro-economic programme and led by the principles of proportionality, transparency, fairness
and cross-border co-ordination (to avoid the risk of contagion). Finally, the emergency clause of
35
Article 122 TFEU deserves scrutinizing. This rule provides an exception allowing bailout
activity of the EU via financial assistance, “where a Member State is in difficulties or is seriously
threatened with severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond
its control …” (Ruffert, 2011)
Ruffert (2011) does outline a plan that is rather intuitive to any economist, central
planner, or strategic planner open to amending and reinterpreting the Maastricht Treaty to
facilitate the voluntary removal of a member nation in a manner that is beneficial to the survival
of the Euro and in a manner in which contagion is preventable. The prospect of appeasing
private creditors via the macroeconomic programme and facilitating bailout funding to the public
holders of the sovereign debt in a binary attempt to satisfy all claimants perhaps is the most
viable solution to enable the return the flow of the principle capital investment to primary
investors of the sovereign debt. Article 122 TFEU is the cause that does enable the use of public
debt within a pooled aggregate fund for emergency debt refinancing and debt maintenance of any
member state threatened with removal from the EZ due to financial hardship.
Discussion
To facilitate the exit of any sovereign member of the Eurozone, a number of questions,
present as bulleted points below, to evaluate the risk to contagion as well as establish a macro
view of the interrelated connections and to estimate probabilities for any particular event to occur
that will create excessive risk to the money and banking system. The questions asked, listed
below, are answered in the pages that follow.
 The Optimum Monetary Reconfiguration
 Implications for Sovereign Debt, Private Savings, and Domestic Mortgages
36
 The Effects on the Stability of the Banking System
 Approaches to Transition
 The Institutions Implications
The optimum monetary configuration of any member nation seeking to leave the
Eurozone refers to the optimum configuration with regard to the return to the legacy currency.
The optimum configuration is indeed oxymoronic as optimum given the fiscal disorder of the
house in consideration is far from ‘optimum’ to which the currency valuation will be far
removed from the value of exchange enjoyed under the euro. However, the restructuring of debt
in euros held inside and outside of the Eurozone will provide the opportunity necessary for the
default economy and establish a viable global macroeconomic position to which future GDP
growth can facilitate the repayment of debt obligations as well as support the notion of returning
to the Eurozone as an active participant.
The optimum configuration is indeed an estimation of the legacy valuation given the
exposure to debt after the debt restructuring in euros, to which the haircut will reveal anywhere
from ½ to ¾ or more reduction in outstanding debt obligations. Such a reduction will not over
burden the drachma once reinstated, however, the question of interest rates, which is a function
of coupon payments and the yield-to-maturity- YTM on new debt issues is a function of interest
rate theory.
The market for sovereign bonds especially in the times of the ‘new normal’, that is, the
elevated rise in unemployment within the Eurozone to essentially give rise to a situation where
Germany is driving the prowess of the economic union. To which, Germany chancellors and
leaders were skeptical of joining the euro for reasons related to economic support of member
37
nations as a function in the valuation of not only the underlying exchange currency, but the
structure regarding the interest rate and relative risk in downside volatility of the bonds issued
and outstanding.
The problem with issuing new debt to the exited EZ nation with repayment in the legacy
currency is the interest rate cannot be too high as to overburden the debt maintenance process
whilst facilitating the necessary payments to repay the principle. Therefore, the optimal
monetary amount cannot be optimal as the valuation of debt and currency will not be a direct
reflection of the underlying economic situation faced by the exited nation and its legacy
currency. The reality of the situation is to understand the calculation to obtain the optimal
interest rate on the long-term debt issues, pegged to the legacy currency, will yield a junk bond
rating to which the optimal interest rate will yield two different interpretations.
The first interpretation is one with which the optimal minima favored by the issuing
government and the second interpretation is one with which the optimal maxima is favored by
the investor seeking return relative to risk. Therefore, comparatively speaking using the two
economy model of low debt rating risk exposure (U.S, Greece), if the optimal minima on new
Greek debt issues (drachma), whilst still retaining the junk bond status is arbitrarily 6.5% with
the 1 year LIBOR at 1.10%xxi
which is a linear climb from under 1.00% one year ago, and if the
U.S. 30 year fixed mortgage mean (3.87%xxii
) is above core inflation, then the US central bank
policy of enabling easy money and liquidity into the market, which does function to keep
nominal interest rates at or near zero percent does facilitate the notion of earning 6.5% on what
ostensibly is to be considered junk status bonds with very high risk of default. Upside volatility
measured as tail-risk exposure in this case, expected to be a function of payment of interest via
38
two variables to include interest payment as determined by the underlying structure of the debt
instrument as well as repayment of principle in full.
The currency valuation is a function of relative notes outstanding in the market,
determined by calculating velocity exchange moving averages over a 6-month period. Often,
economists miscalculate the real rate of inflation due to not calculating the velocity exchange, a
function of the receipts from consumer basket goods purchases. Simply stated, should the six
month average of consumer basket goods purchases decrease, there is a decrease or a shift to the
left in real spending and therefore in economic velocity exchange. Should the economy indeed
prove to be in an expansionary business cycle growth phase, as measured as a quarter over
quarter growth in GDP, the expected result is net savings in the domestic economy. Even with
interest rates low, the outcome suggests a measure of inflation control to which the currency
value will appreciate, increasing the real return on the real interest rate due to the increase in the
real interest rate from the nominal interest rate.
The optimal currency valuation is hence, considered a market determinant to which the
initial calculation will only function as a rough estimate to which potential arbitrage
opportunities may exist prior to the market adjustment of the currency valuation. However, such
a situation provides a hedge for investors of the new debt issues as the underlying risk to interest
rates may utilize a hedging strategy in the currency swaps market or simply by taking positions
(straddles, etc.) in the currency options market. The notion of risk management and volatility
measure for parameter control is critical to ensuring that investors are protected using divergent
binary strategies that enable the removal of initial exposure to the risk of holding the new debt.
39
As each debt issue approaches its time constraint, which is the asymptote on the yield
curve, or the equivalent to the date of maturity, and if considering the underlying economics of
the domestic economy of the debtor nation does improve as a function of the increase in GDP,
then an investor holding the legacy debt issues may relinquish any currency hedge position or
allow any call option to expire, which is applicable should the investor hold call options for
protection against exposure to the downside risk on the bonds. The currency hedge is to protect
against downside risk exposure, expected to be subject to reduction, as the interpretation of the
improving underlying economy should infer an increase in the probability of principle
repayment.
To determine the ‘optimal’ monetary reconfiguration, one must consider the relative risk
of the debt outstanding as the determinant of the currency conversion rate necessary to convert
outstanding legacy debt valued in euro’s relative to the underlying legacy currency of the
creditor bank. Therefore, if Greece has 500 billion euros in debt held by France, the drachma
must be valued as a function of the franc relative to the underlying debt exposure after the debt
restructuring. Greece’s aggregate debt outstanding is to be tabulated and dissected into tranches,
which reflect the percentage owed to nation, represented by each underlying legacy currency.
The conversion rate used is a function of the underlying debt enumerated as a weighted bond
value that discounted further by 50% to reflect the haircut of the debt restructuring. As German
debt, considered as the most secure within the EZ, the valuation curve is a function of German as
risk-free or 100%.
Additionally, the conversion rate, Ceteris Paribus, must reflect the debt restructuring.
Therefore, a 50% haircut will result in halving of the conversion rate. Additionally, the as the
Greek Debt/GDP is over 100%, the currency will be discounted by 25%, which is essentially a
40
devaluation of the currency as if artificially inflated. The conversion table that depicts the
optimum monetary configuration is available in Appendix II.
The exit of any sovereign nation and approaches to the transition process from the
Eurozone has tricky implications to the current and future sovereign debt rating(s), investor
confidence in outstanding debt, and in the marketability of future debt issues. A Greek exit from
the Eurozone will enable investors to price in the maximum exposure to risk of Greece as well as
price out any risk from the Greek economy with regard to new sovereign debt issues from any
sovereign Eurozone member and from the ECB. Although highly unlikely due to vehement
opposition from the ECJ magistrate, parliamentary leaders, minister of finance, and the
interpretation of the Maastricht Treaty, if Germany were to leave the Eurozone, the implication
to sovereign debt is considerable. The exit is considerable as downside volatility as measured by
movement in the euro currency basket to which the real to nominal value of the debt undergoes a
divergent movement path. Additionally, downside risk is such that all outstanding debt must
now yield at least an acceptable rate of interest from sovereign debt as the investor seeks expects
higher return relative to higher risk on all outstanding debt issued from sovereign nations of the
EZ, including on all future issues, and of all current and future issues from the ECB.
Private savings the stability of the banking system are always in jeopardy as a function of
a bank run in the most afflicted (debt ridden) EZ member nations, if default is expected and
should legacy currency measures advance. The role and ability of the ESM here is critical. The
ESM may function as a parallel to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation of the U.S., such
that the ESM may guarantee the bank deposits of up to 10 times the amount of the median
national poverty income level. This ratio is akin to the U.S. ratio of FDIC protection of
$100,000 with a median national poverty income level of approximately $10,000. The
41
protection of bank deposits will prevent a devaluation of the currency by flooding the market
with euros, which also will destabilize the Greek banking sector, which seeks to precipitate a
banking contagion where economies in danger of default also experience a bank run.
Domestic mortgages as paid and valued in euros must be restructured and marked-to-
market under the new legacy currency. Therefore, a mortgage contract agreed and signed upon
under the original EZ terms with the underlying collateral market value in euros must be
discounted as function of 100% maximum housing value as a determinant of the valuation of the
drachma. Interest rates associated with the restructured and refinanced mortgages must be
supported with the equivalent of Mortgage Backed Securities issued by the ECB and backed by
the ESM. The restructured mortgage and the MBS are integrated for tranche risk measure and
return valuation, and sold to investors, which the underlying mortgage risk supporting the Greek
collateral obligation are mitigated with the relative interest payment and stability of the
ECB/ESM issued MBS.
If the mortgage owner does hold a mortgage in another EZ country, France for example,
and is subject to personal savings restructuring to the legacy currency, the negotiating bank must
then accept an agreement from the ESM that facilitates payment in euros. The ESM payment is
expected to cover the difference between debt owed on the mortgage in euros and the debt in the
legacy currency once the legacy currency goes into effect. For example, if the mortgage,
including interest, is valued at 700,000 euros, and if parity value for housing in the Greek market
equates a house valued at 700,000 euros (weighted 100%) to be 300,000 drachma (weighted
100%), then the difference in value will be paid by the ESM to ensure integrity in the banking
and housing market.
42
Implications to international contracts held by any nation subject to removal from the EZ
(Greece, Portugal, etc.) and priced in euros represent a divergent exposure to risk. The stability
of the euro relative to other currency baskets and as a measure of value will undermine the
integrity of the existing contract such that the legacy currency will effectively force a revaluation
and ostensibly a renegotiation of the underlying asset and collateral value as enforced by the
contract. To protect the stability of the banking system, each at-risk international contract must
be parlayed by hedging with currency swaps and credit default swaps.
There is not a direct way to ensure the safety of international contracts denominated in
euros unless the euros exchanged into Eurodollars and held in a Eurobank, to which downside
volatility of risk exposure to the euro is removed and placed essentially on the USD. The USD is
a liquid currency to which the underlying debt issued as a function of the USD purchasable by
the ECB and other central banks. The value of the international contracts expressed as euros are
exchangeable for Eurodollars, effectively removing the exposure to the euro and allowing the
contract to be revalued as a function of the legacy currency against the USD. Although these
measures ultimately are subject to negotiation and agreement, this method effectively mitigates
the exposure of a euro to legacy by switching to the Eurodollar/USD to legacy valuation.
If managed properly, effectively, and with an eye toward the prevention of contagion, the
exit of any EZ member nation and the net effect on the banking system will be a function of
variance in volatility. If a member with a copious debt outstanding does choose to exit the euro,
necessary measures are to protect the value of the euro as well as the outstanding debt that is
valued in euros. Eurodollars as well as currency swaps, credit default swaps, and the ESM
issued MBS will collectively enable a plan of protection that will protect the underlying asset
value of euro denominated assets held in the banking system as well as the value of the euro. As
43
USD is entered into the market, the debt issued should be purchased by Greece, as quantitative
easing to which the drachma is purchased by the ECB to release debt priced in euros and sold to
investors seeking a return in euros and willing to accept underlying exposure to, in this case, the
drachma.
The aforementioned strategy seeks to protect the underlying asset and currency within the
banking system via a multi-tiered, staggered and integrated release of quantitative easing using
the US dollar, the Japanese Yen, the German Deutsche Mark, the Great Britain Pound, and the
Euro (ECB). The release of each aforementioned currency into the economy and subsequent
removal from the economy performed using a round robin system of quantitative easing as a
function of controlling the supply of the legacy currency and protecting the inflationary pressure
and interest rate risk associated with new debt releases.
Approaches to Transition & Institutional Implications
The transition process includes the move from the euro to the legacy currency, as well as
the exit of the legacy nation from the Eurozone, and the transition from a quasi-independent
political entity to a completely independent political and economic entity. The legacy nation
must plan and control its own budget as a function of a ‘long-term’ strategic plan established to
set the legacy economy on track to rejoin the euro over x time. A strategic plan, strategic budget,
and capital investment must all be present to guide the transition prior to the exit. Indeed, if
employment rises in the weeks before the exit, the impact on the banking system, readily
mitigated, is better able to absorb volatility. Details on page 35 detail the broader mitigation
plan.
44
The investment into the legacy economy is a direct injection loan system from the ESM
to Greek banks that then lend in drachmas, the capital amount to private manufacturing for
capital necessary to create jobs and grow GDP. The lower the cost of production, the more
competitive price of the good and greater the contribution toward reinvestment into the domestic
economy and into savings. Process control and performance improvement as a function of the
reduction in process variance and increase in quality per unit are catalysts toward achieving a
lower cost of production.
The second strategy, or Plan B, referenced by Feldstein (2012) is a controlled quantitative
easing plan and is similar to the proposal in this paper except that instead of the ECB acting as
sole enabler of the EZ debt, the ESM will have a more active role in mitigating risk and
introducing capital into the market as necessary. The buttressing of the ESM on the issuance of
debt by the ECB will allow emergency fund capital to work actively in favor of the ECB by
replacing the capital entered into the market as liquidity.
The institutional implications are subject to the Maastricht Treaty and the legal
parameters governing the sphere of influence outlined within the Treaty. Institutions with
financial and political implications include the following. The IMF, the ECJ, the JHA (Nugent,
pg. 368-9, 2006), the European Council (EC) (Nugent, pg. 371, 2012), the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF) (et al), the European Social Fund (ESF) (et al), the European
Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (et al), the Financial Instrument for
Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) (et al), and the Cohesion Fund (CF) (et al). The IMF lending activity
may be in violation of its Maastricht Treaty powers to which the EFSF has mimicked powers as
a function of Article 122 TFEU (Ruffert, 2011).
45
Appendix I
27-n
member
euro zone
United
States
Germany
Japan
England
46
Appendix II
Foreign 0.25% Conversion Euro
Oct, 10 yr
Amount Reduction Rate Amount
bond yields, low is good
Austria
Austria
Schilling
ATS
Divided
by
2.5418 = 1 EUR
2.92
Belgium
Belgian
Franc
BEF
Divided
by
4.805 = 1 EUR
4.2
Germany
Deutsche
Mark
DEM
Divided
by
0.977915 = 1 EUR
2
Spain
Spanish
Peseta
ESP 125.30125
Divided
by
100.241 = 1 EUR
5.26
Finland
Finnish
Markka
FIM
Divided
by
2.972865 = 1 EUR
2.51
France
French
Franc
FRF 4.0997313
Divided
by
3.279785 = 1 EUR
2.99
Greece
Greek
Drachma
GRD 1210.1688
Divided
by
968.135 = 1 EUR
18.04
Ireland
Irish
Pound
IEP 103.99125
Divided
by
83.193 = 1 EUR
8.1
Italy Italian Lira ITL 212.96875
Divided
by
170.375 = 1 EUR
5.97
Luxemburg
Luxembou
rg Franc
LUF
Divided
by
2.817 = 1 EUR
2.37
The
Netherlands
Dutch
Guilder
NLG
Divided
by
2.20371 = 1 EUR
2.46
Portugal
Portuguese
Escudo
PTE 327.81188
Divided
by
262.2495 = 1 EUR
11.72
Country Currency x / 2
Original Source: http://uwo.ca/finance/travel/docs/euroconv.html
Original Source for the bond yields: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/nov/07/euro-
debt-crisis-data#data
The data in the table above has been modified from its original format to reflect a more approximate
and realistic analysis of the underlying legacy value
47
References
Bankrate.com. (2012). LIBOR, other interest rate indexes. Bankrate Inc.
www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/libor.aspx
Editorial comment. (2011). Common Market Law Review, 48(6), 1769-1776. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/915652247?accountid=13044
EUROPEAN UNION: Euro-area brokers greek rescue deal. (2010). United Kingdom: Oxford
Analytica Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/192467909?accountid=13044
Data Blog facts are sacred. (2011). Eurozone debt crisis: the key charts you need to understand
what’s happening. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/nov/07/euro-debt-crisis-
data#data
Feldstein, M. (2012). The failure of the euro: The little currency that couldnt. Foreign
Affairs, 91(1), 105-116. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/912658291?accountid=13044
Henry, D. (2012). Date With Drachma Nears as Less Is More in Europe: The Ticker. Bloomberg
View. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/date-with-drachma-nears-as-less-is-more-
in-europe-the-ticker.html
Nugent, N. (2012). The Government And Politics of the European Union. 6th Edition. Duke
University Press.
Ruffert, M. (2011). The european debt crisis and european union law. Common Market Law
Review, 48(6), 1777-1805. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/915650598?accountid=13044
i
On private sector involvement see Conclusions of the European Council, cited supra note 3 1 , Annex
II, pp. 29 et seq. - with quotations in the text -, and Preamble no. (9) of the ESM Draft Treaty.
ii
But see the warning facts reported by Snyder, "EMU-integration and differentiation: Metaphor for
European Union", in Craig and De Burea (Eds.), The Evolution of EU Law, 2nd ed. (OUP, 2011), p.
713.
iii
Lenaerts and Van Nuffel, European Union Law, 3rd ed. (20 11), para 1 1 -037; Schorkopf,
"Gestaltung mit Recht", 136 AÖR (2011), 339; Hentschelmann, "Finanzhilfen im Lichte der No Bailout-
Klausel - Eigenverantwortung und Solidarität in der Währungsunion", (20 11) EuR, 289 et seq. Cf. also
Kube and Reimer, "Grenzen des Europäischen Stabilisierungsmechanismus", (2010) NJW, 1913, who
argue that the EFSF was an illicit circumvention of the prohibition.
iv
On private sector involvement see Conclusions of the European Council, cited supra note 3 1 , Annex
II, pp. 29 et seq. - with quotations in the text -, and Preamble no. (9) of the ESM Draft Treaty.
v
Cf. Louis, op. cit. supra note 5, 977, who rightly says that this is the "'budgetary code' of the Union";
Hahn and Häde, Währungsrecht (2010), para 27/19 et seq.; Häde, "Die europäische Währungsunion
in der internationalen Finanzkrise -An den Grenzen europäischer Solidarität?", (2010) EuR, 855 et
seq.; Frenz and Ehlenz, "Der Euro ist gefährdet: Hilfsmöglichkeiten bei drohendem Staatsbankrott",
48
(2010) Europäisches Wirtschafts- und Steuerrecht, 61 et seq. Some authors, however, wisely
predicted that the EMU contained, from its outset, a de facto obligation to rescue defaulting partners
(Herdegen, "Price stability and budgetary restraints in the Economic and Monetary Union: The law as
guardian of economic wisdom", 35 CML Rev. (1998), 22, and similarly Amtenbrink and De Haan,
"Economic governance in the European Union: Fiscal policy discipline versus flexibility", 46 CML Rev.
(2003), 1093). This, of course, does not create a legal obligation or even power.
vi
This was the core argument of the German Federal Government in the proceedings before the
Bundesverfassungsgericht, developed by its representative: Häde, "Rechtsfragender EU-
Rettungsschirme", (2011) Zeitschrift für Gesetzgebung, 6 et seq., id., in Calliess and Ruffert, op. cit.
supra note 72, Art. 125 AEUY para 8.
vii
Cf. Faßbender, "Der europäische 'Stabilisierungsmechanismus' im Lichte von Unionsrecht und
deutschem Verfassungsrecht", (2010) Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht, 801.
viii
This is rightly rejected by Schröder, "Die Griechenlandhilfen im Falle ihrer Unionsrechtswidrigkeit",
(201 1) DÖV, 63 et seq.
ix
Withregardto the ECB' s competences cf. Seidel, "Editorial", (2010) EuZW, 521, and - with less
rigidity - Müller-Graff, "Die europäische Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion: Rechtliche Rahmendaten für
Reformen", in Bechtold, Jickeli and Rohe (Eds.), Recht, Ordnung und Wettbewerb, Festschrift zum 70.
Geburtstag von Wernhard Möschel (2011), ? . 890. Häde, op. cit. supra note 44, 20 et seq., takes a
different view, and so does obviously Louis, op. cit. supra note 5, 975.
x
This could trigger off an indirect control by this Court in the future.
xi
"We violated all the rules because we wanted to close ranks and really rescue the euro -zone."
quoted from: <www.reuters.com/article/20 10/12/1 8/us-france-lagardeidUSTRE6BH0V020101218>
(last visited 4 Oct. 201 1).
xii
Cf. <ec .europa.eu/economy_f inance/articles/eu_economic_situation/2 010-05-03statement-
commissioner-rehn-imf-on-greece_en.htm> (last visited 4 Oct. 2011). The original Communication is
no longer online (!).
xiii
Similarly Calliess, "Perspektiven des Euro zwischen Solidarität und Recht - Eine rechtliche Analyse
der Griechenlandhilfe und des Retlungsschirms", (2011) Zeitschrift für Europarechtliche Stuthen, 278.
xiv
See for the latest case in the line Opinion 1/09 of 8 March 201 1 (Patents Court).
xv
The quotation in English is drawn from the press release. There is a following decision on the
implementation in Germany which temporarily stops the operation of a particular parliamentary
committee: decision of 27 Oct. 201 1, 2 BvE 8/11.
xvi
Cf. Streinz, Ohler and Herrmann, Der Iter trag von Lissabon zur Reform der EU, 3 rd ed. (2010), p.
86, who talk about some "fine-tuning". Cf. also Stotz, "Neuerungen im Bereich der Wirtschafts- und
Währungsunion", in Schwarze (Ed.), Der Verfassungsentwurf des Europäischen Konvents (Nomos,
2004), pp. 225 et seq.
xvii
See also Piris, “Divide Europe, save the Union”, The FinancialTimes, 4 Nov. 2011; Van
den Bogaert, Ich bin ein ¤uropäer – Een uitweg uit de monetaire crisis? (inaugural lecture,
Leiden University, 2010), available at media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/oratie-van-den-bogaert.pdf
xviii
Louis, “The Economic and Monetary Union: Law and institutions”, 41 CML Rev.
(2004), 1075; Smits, “Het Stabiliteits- en Groeipact Nagekeken”, 58 SEW (2004), 53.
xix
Case C-295/90, Parliament v. Council [1992] ECR I-4193; Opinion 2/94, Accession of
the Community to the European Human Rights Convention [1996] ECR I-1759
xx
The Draft was not published before the beginning of July 2011
(<consilium.europa.eu/media/1216793/esm%20Treaty%20en.pdf> (last visited 4 Oct. 2011)).
The outline (“term sheet”) of the ESM is designed in the Conclusions of the European Council
of 24/25 March 2011, Doc. EUCO 10/1/11 REV 1. Quotations are from the term shee
xxi
http://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/libor.aspx
xxii
http://www.bankrate.com/rates/interst-rates/libor.aspx

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Ramdeen, Vidia, Wolfson Economics Prize

  • 1. 1 Author Vidia S. Ramdeen, MPA, SSBB 3829 Gomer Street Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 P: 914-409-7700 E: vramdeen@gmail.com Biography Vidia is an Emerging Hedge Fund Manager at Ricochet Alternative Asset Management where is Founder & CEO. Ricochet manages the Quantico Fund, a multi-strategy global macro hedge fund. Vidia holds a BA in economics from SUNY Albany and a Master of Public Administration degree from Pace University where he studied under John Allan James, and is a 6σ Black Belt, a member of Pi Alpha Alpha & an AOM reviewer. NB: Vidia has driven cross country 6 times, from NY, NY to San Diego, CA. The first trip, accomplished in just over 2 days (Official Time: 2 days 4 hours 52 minutes.
  • 2. 2 The Wolfson Economics Prize “If member states leave the Economic Monetary Union, what is the best way for the economic process to be managed to provide the soundest foundation for the future growth and prosperity of the current membership?” – The Judges, Wolfson Economics Prize Executive Summary Potential instability arising within the European Monetary Union (EMU) with potential contagion to the global banking system is a function of mishandling of the exit of the most debt stressed members. Therefore, the process of disintegrating any current member of the EMU, must be handled strategically and methodically as to ensure the ability for the market to adjust the flow of new capital into the global economy. Given the circumstance, the purpose is to provide a frank yet detailed proposal intended to prevent else mitigate contagion which will unduly cause a free fall of the euro leading to further downgrading of outstanding sovereign Eurozone debt held by global investors. The act of exiting the Eurozone, understood to be, in part, a function of defaulting on a percentage of the debt, therefore allowing the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism (EFSM) or the (ESM) (Matthias, 2011) to pay the outstanding amount to creditors and issue new bonds to be purchased by the nation that has exited the Eurozone. However, as to not produce immediate debt onto the exiting government, the new sovereign debt will remain held by the EFSM or ESM on a T-Account basis, such that the exiting Eurozone nation will reestablish economic sovereignty to the point of driving currency valuation against the euro near parity. The decision for reentry to the Eurozone and repatriation to the euro will then allow repatriated Eurozone nation to commence repayment on the accounts payable side of the t-account regarding
  • 3. 3 the amortization of the bond (accounts receivable end of the EFSM) repayment of the outstanding sovereign debt. The process of managing the repayment of outstanding sovereign debt and in meeting the interest payable obligation is more readily coordinated via the restructure of the outstanding debt with the consortium of creditors. There is always a level of risk when purchasing sovereign debt. The risk is subject to which the restructure reflects the adjusted real value of the debt outstanding as well as provides new debenture financial instruments at fair market value to raise new funds and to provide a sort of ‘hedge’ by enabling the purchase of new debt created as a function of the devaluation arising from restructuring outstanding debt. The holders of new debentures if holders of the old debentures will receive back invested capital, which is the agreed upon x% of the outstanding amount payable at maturity including interest plus the contract on the new debentures payable at maturity. The dynamic of restructuring, rather than forcing the hand of the market in the short-run, theoretically will reduce the risk of default and rate of return as a function of shifting the time constraint to the long run. The long-run economic outcome of debt payments is theoretically a function of GDP growth/accrued and assumed debt, and therefore the process of reentry and economic reintegration of the once removed Eurozone member(s) is a function of domestic economic restructuring. Additionally, the symbiotic and ostensible simultaneous economic velocity in the transfer of balance of payments is a function of enabling the proper level of liquidity into the market in a manner that controls for marginal increases in the rate of inflation. The introduction of additional liquidity into the global market is a function of maintaining a transfer of debt and
  • 4. 4 currency swaps between the primary market, consisting of the United States, Germany, Japan, and England. The aforementioned exchange of economic velocity will theoretically take advantage of the appreciation in currency valuation for these nations speaking to their broad currency baskets to control for inflationary pressures globally and to facilitate the necessary liquidity into the markets to enable the facilitation of the transfer of payments. The varying interest rates of member Eurozone nations, emerging markets, and syndicate nations will be actively managed to ensure that the 6 month LIBOR average remains stable. As GDP growth in the emerging markets accelerates, loose monetary policy will allow nations of the syndicate to purchase the debt of these emerging market members such as Brazil. Such injection of capital flow from the syndicate nation and removal of Brazilian real from the market may facilitate the shift in currency appreciation to the bailout/emergency funds, established to prevent contagion.
  • 5. 5 Introduction The purpose is to provide a frank yet detailed proposal intended to prevent else mitigate contagion which will unduly cause a free fall of the euro leading to further downgrading of outstanding sovereign Eurozone debt held by global investors. Potential instability arising within the European Monetary Union (EMU) with potential contagion to the global banking system is a function of mishandling of the exit of the most debt stressed members. Therefore, the process of disintegrating any current member of the EMU, must be handled strategically and methodically as to ensure the ability for the market to adjust the flow of new capital into the global economy. The current structure of the EMU sovereign debt crisis is not as complex as one may believe. As oxymoronic as the aforementioned statement may appear, the cumulative debt structure of the obligations outstanding, as a function of debentures outstanding (accounts payable), interest payable (i-rates, debt rating, inflation) and debentures held (accounts receivable), interest earned/accrued (i-rates, debt rating, inflation). The symbiotic and ostensible simultaneous economic velocity in the transfer of balance of payments is a function of enabling the proper level of liquidity into the market in a manner that controls for marginal increases in the rate of inflation. The introduction of additional liquidity into the global market is a function of maintaining a transfer of debt and currency swaps between the primary market, consisting of the United States, Germany, Japan, and England that is designed to take advantage of the appreciation in currency valuation for these nations speaking to their broad currency baskets to control for inflationary pressures globally and to facilitate the necessary liquidity into the markets to enable the facilitation of the transfer of payments. The
  • 6. 6 varying interest rates of member Eurozone nations, emerging markets, and syndicate nations will be actively managed to ensure that the 6 month LIBOR average remains stable. As GDP growth in the emerging markets accelerates, loose monetary policy will allow nations of the syndicate to purchase the debt of these emerging market members such as Brazil. Such injection of capital flow from the syndicate nation and removal of Brazilian real from the market may facilitate the shift in currency appreciation to the bail-out funds that are designed to prevent contagion. The nexus that exists via the economic integration between the 27 Eurozone members (Henry, 2012) and the ‘monetary syndicate’, that includes the primary debt and currency swaps market consisting of the United States, Germany, Japan, and England is to be viewed conceptually as an interrelated web with the secondary debt market consisting of Eurozone members. Conceptually, the monetary syndicate undergoes positioning in the exterior of the web and encloses the 27 Eurozone members (Henry, 2012). The potential influence of China in the sovereign debt market via purchases by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is considerable as China is capable of purchasing excess debt on the market and can play a facilitator role by providing liquidity to the market, essentially acting as a market maker. The monetary syndicate nations will operate as an intermediary debt and currency exchange network capable of injecting liquidity into the market from any syndicate based central bank into euro zone central and subsequent commercial banks. The Venn diagram shown in Appendix I, on a basic level, shows the interrelationship between the monetary syndicate and the 27-N Eurozone members.
  • 7. 7 The act of exiting the Eurozone, understood to be, in part, a function of defaulting on a percentage of the debt, therefore allowing the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism (EFSM) or the (ESM) (Matthias, 2011) to pay the outstanding amount to creditors and issue new bonds to be purchased by the nation that has exited the Eurozone. However, as to not produce immediate debt onto the exiting government, the new sovereign debt will remain held by the EFSM or ESM on a T-Account basis, such that the exiting Eurozone nation will reestablish economic sovereignty to the point of driving currency valuation against the euro near parity. The decision for reentry to the Eurozone and repatriation to the euro will then allow repatriated Eurozone nation to commence repayment on the accounts payable side of the t-account regarding the amortization of the bond (accounts receivable end of the EFSM) repayment of the outstanding sovereign debt. The process of managing the repayment of outstanding sovereign debt and in meeting the interest payable obligation is more readily coordinated via the restructure of the outstanding debt with the consortium of creditors. There is always a level of risk when purchasing sovereign debt to which the restructure reflects the adjusted real value of the debt outstanding as well as provides new debenture financial instruments at fair market value to raise new funds and to provide a sort of ‘hedge’ by enabling the purchase of new debt created as a function of the devaluation arising from restructuring outstanding debt. The holders of new debentures if holders of the old debentures will receive back invested capital, which is the agreed upon x% of the outstanding amount payable at maturity including interest plus the contract on the new debentures payable at maturity. The dynamic of restructuring, rather than forcing the hand of the market in the short-run, theoretically will reduce the risk of default and rate of return as a function of shifting the time
  • 8. 8 constraint to the long run. The long-run economic outcome of debt payments is theoretically a function of GDP growth/accrued and assumed debt, and therefore the process of reentry and economic reintegration of the once removed Eurozone member(s) is a function of domestic economic restructuring. A review of the European Union system of governance will be conducted to determine the policy necessary to facilitate the means necessary to coordinate an economic exit from the Eurozone. The expectation is for the return to the legacy currency for the exited nation. Whether the nation is Greece, Italy, Portugal, France, Belgium, or any other Eurozone member nation, the idea is to return to the legacy currency, restructure the domestic economy and budget to create jobs and educate the workforce in order to create and fill domestic jobs that directly contribute to year over year marginal growth in GDP. As a function of structuring new debt, the issuing syndicate nations with the higher debt/GDP ratio will have an easy money policy subject to maxima range constraints of the following: (10 basis points + inflation) and minima = 0. The idea is to encourage investment into private markets as a function of rising GDP as funded by easy liquidity. The anticipated nominal zero interest rate for bank deposits and holders of treasury bonds will provide a negative real interest rate after adjusting for inflation. Any monetary syndicate nation with a lower debt/GDP ratio may fluctuate from tightening to loosening credit as is best directed by global macro-economic forces. The introductory analysis begs the question of what the immediate impact of the aforementioned would be. Holders of fixed rate mortgages in the U.S. will be subject to less income in real dollars subject to the rise in prices for consumer basket goods. This increase does
  • 9. 9 erode the value of the higher fixed interest rate by deflating the real rate of return on the underlying collateral instrument held by the bank to ensure payment of the amortized mortgage debt obligation. Given the extent of the sovereign debt crisis, the externality for the U.S. market, is not severe to the point of reconsidering the underlying monetary economic policy. The major externality in the global market is deflationary and inflationary pressure as well as instability given declining levels of real GDP growth subject to real decline in the rate of return of aggregate productivity, a function of the employment rate, underemployment rate, and the net contribution to GDP after expenses, expressed as a rate (%) of the underlying ratio. The rate of real productivity from the exited Eurozone nations is a contributing factor in the ability for the bail-out fund to not require further assistance via quantitative easing from members of the syndicate nations. To illustrate, here is an example of quantitative easing to demonstrate the process from which a monetary syndicate member nation is a function of its underlying currency pair, and in this case, it is the USD/JPY currency basket. In this case, the pairing has experienced downside volatility from parity to which the JPY/USD valuation, which has experience upside volatility from parity, can enable quantitative easing initiated by the Bank of Japan to provide liquidity to the market. Purchasing of US treasury bonds by the Bank of Japan allows for the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Deutsche Bundesbank (German Federal Bank) to engage in further quantitative easing by purchasing debt issued by the Bank of Japan. The combination of the ECB and the Deutsche Bundesbank can replace more yen in the market with less Deutsche Marks and Euros, which will effectively control the inflationary effects of quantitative easing.
  • 10. 10 Of importance is to note the expected return in GDP of the underlying contingency economic plan that supports the appreciation of the legacy currency relative to the global basket of currencies. The appreciation of the legacy currency will render a new valuation against each currency as represented by the balance of outstanding debt in euros held by each creditor (foreign banks and investors holding the sovereign debt of the exited Eurozone member). The valuation of the legacy currency is a function of the assumed restructured debt amount as rendered from the converted currency (euro) in exchange for the legacy currency as adjusted for euros. The Maastricht Treaty (Nugent, pg. 363, 2006) is the facilitator the European Union (EU) to which the governing laws as overseen by the European Council and promulgated by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Therefore, the Eurozone members are not only economically integrated by also politically integrated as well. For example, the Third Pillar of the Maastricht Treaty (Nugent, pg. 368, 2006) enables the “Provisions on Cooperation in the Fields of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA).” (Nugent. pg. 368, 2006) The Maastricht Treaty since its inception has been amended and labeled the Amsterdam, Nice, and Lisbon treaties, collectively referred to as the Treaties of the European Union (Nugent, 2006). Without specific regard to the changes made over the years, the impact politically and structurally to the exited Eurozone nation is to include the provisions outlined under the Treaties of the European Union. The length of time for any exited Eurozone member to reintegrate into the Eurozone may be a function of years. Over this time, the cost of maintaining Eurozone services as a function of the treatise provisions will burden the administrative system operations of the exited nation to which cost of maintenance is prohibitive to growth. Exited Eurozone nations must reestablish internal political and government administration operations, which do not seek to restrict
  • 11. 11 economic velocity of trade and currency exchange, and do not restrict personal movement of Eurozone and exited Eurozone members. Once removed from the Eurozone, industry growth within the domestic economy of the exited nation will link to multinational comparative advantage relationships that are a function of manufacturing and intellectual property creation from the exited Eurozone nation. Although the purpose of this paper is not to detail the macroeconomic activity of the exited Eurozone nation, for future consideration for reentry, the importance herein is to acknowledge that all efforts undertaken is to be seen as methods to eventually strengthen the Eurozone. Strengthening as a function of facilitating reentry of all exited nations once domestic economic GDP is robust to which the legacy currency is appreciating whilst preventing hyperinflation and year over year GDP growth is marginally positive. Conceivably, the exited sovereign member nation economy will be growing at the same rate as while a member of the EZ, the opportunity to rebuild and restructure the economy is present and critical to meeting the expectation of investors regarding meeting interest rate payments on serviceable debt and repayment of debt principle. The devaluation of currency will seek to establish the national economy as a net exporter to which trade partners are either net importing nations, or nations that have currency valuations above or at parity. The ability for the exited EZ member nation to establish trade partnerships with EZ nations enables the exited EZ member to become a manufacturing hub for EZ nations to the point of advancing global trade. For example, if Greece does indeed exit the Eurozone, Greece is able to retool the economy to become a net exporter of durable goods manufacturing such as baby diapers, formula, and other goods in demand by wealthier nations, including cutting-edge electronics
  • 12. 12 such as televisions, etc. Ideally, Greece’s objective is to become a supply-chain economy, which is, become an economy that is strategic to the supply chain development of major existing corporations and emerging companies with guaranteed contracts. Considering the low nominal value of Greek currency, the selling of manufactured goods from Greece to the EZ will enable Greek banks to hold euro deposits in exchange for the drachma. Trading in and out of the EU as a function of purchasing Greek manufactured goods will avail a global supply of market competitive consumer durable and non-durable goods. The value of the euro renders goods from legacy currency nations to be relatively inexpensive to the euro currency basket. Trade from the EZ to wholesalers or direct to retailers in a country with an exchange rate competitive to the euro will yield the comparative advantage of being able to import consumer durables at a price either lower or at least competitive to the internal manufacturing cost. Additionally, such consumer non-durable and some durable goods produced perhaps more competitive than what the trade nation GDP contribution as an exporter of identical goods. Such a strategy will work in a market to which there are little to no substitutable goods or to which there is an elastic demand curve for substitutes relative to the availability of a lower priced substitute. Additionally, examining the complementary goods market in trade partner nations will reveal consumer goods arbitrage opportunities to manufacture complementary goods, such as ketchup to a nation with high hot dog consumption, Ceteris Paribus. The ESM has the power to provide direct capital investment into the exited sovereign nation. The capital injection is necessary to procure manufacturing plant, property, and equipment necessary to add value over debt to the domestic economy.
  • 13. 13 Literature Review The amount of recent literature to include scholarly and non-scholarly works covering the Eurozone crisis in aggregate is copious. The central theme, interpreted as the consensus evaluation of the outstanding literature renders the use of austerity measures without rectifying the underlying dysfunction, whilst seeking a plan to mitigate the risk of a free falling euro and actively seeking to avoid the downgrading of sovereign debt. Inclusively, the aforementioned do remain a function of the probability of contagion of one or more highly indebted nations upon the release of a single member of the Eurozone in default. Of primary importance to the literature review is the understanding of EU law and the constraints placed by the Maastricht Treaty on the Eurozone members with regard to receiving any form of bailout funding as well as on leaving the formally integrated Eurozone, a function of EU membership. The relinquishing of the euro is only one aspect of the process in removal from the EZ. The political process and organizational dynamic of belonging to the EU involves administrative offices and national services that facilitate cross-border travel and commerce between EZ members. An exit from the EZ will restrict the movement of EZ and non-EZ members from the exited EZ member nation as well as hinder trade and commerce, and obfuscate the immigration and visa administrative procedures once handled by the EU. Additionally, the objective of the Literature Review is to provide a background into the content of the crisis as well as the direct content as stated by individuals in and around the Eurozone crisis. The latter essentially is to provide quoted word-for-word detail that does not alter the semantics or syntax regarding the insight behind the selected chosen words. Therefore, there is little paraphrasing and in-text citation, rather, there is direct quotation given the
  • 14. 14 importance of specificity. The importance of understanding the precise thoughts of political and financial leaders as well as business economists and business journalists is critical to the complexity of the scope in argument over the actions necessary to resolve the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. The European Debt Crisis and European Union Law (Matthias, 2011), provides the most critical points to consider in discussion of European Law under the auspice of the current Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis. Specifically, Matthias’ argument does consider at length the effect on the EU with regard to the debt crisis and the loss of member nations. Matthias provides a very detailed synopsis of the crisis from the purview of EU law as well as the purview of the potential disintegration of the Eurozone. The structure of the Matthias argument compares EU law and parliamentary duty to the actual political and economic actions taken to prevent a default of the most egregious of default candidates. The decision to include much of the Matthias analysis and argument in the Literature Review, rendered due to the specific context of EU law as well as the analysis to market dynamics to include policy recommendations that do establish a framework on which stability in the markets is very conceivable. According to Matthias, 2011, “The analysis will reveal most disturbing risks for three core issues of European Union law – nothing less than the integrity of European constitutionalism, the future of democratic Government in the EU and the conservation of wealth and stability (which are also legal values). This development has an impact on the future of European Union law and its scholarship, as well.” (Matthias, 2011)
  • 15. 15 Matthias, 2011, continues to describe the manipulation of government reporting regarding the integrity of Greek debt to which the data had been “statistically manipulated” (Matthias, 2011) in Q4 of 2009 to “conceal its true public debt and was practically bankrupt.” (Matthias, 2011) The first bailout package (110 billion over 3 years) (Matthias, 2011) presented as a loan to Greece involving “the euro area countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).” (Matthias, 2011). Greece is therefore indebted to “the euro area Member States (euro 80 billion) and the IMF (euro 30 billion).” (Matthias, 2011) The terms of the first bailout package included interest rate modifications that effectively lowered “the interest rates by 1%, and extended maturity to 7.5 years. Up to September 2011, euro 65 billion have been disbursed, euro 47.1 thereof by the euro area countries. The implementation is surveyed by a “troika” legal expert team of the Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF.” (Matthias, 2011) Therefore, should Greece exit the Eurozone, the remaining percentage owed after the restructuring of the Eurozone debt of 80 billion as well as the IMF debt of 30 billion including, accrued interest will still be owed and represented by the first generation of debt issuance. Further analysis by Matthias, 2011 reveals, in opinion, a method to avoid contagion. “It is important to note that the operation of the ESM will include private sector involvement. If it is concluded, after a debt sustainability analysis in line with IMF practice, “that a macro-economic adjustment programme can realistically restore the public debt to a sustainable pathi ”, the main private creditors are to be encouraged to maintain their exposures. If this is denied, negotiations between the Member States concerned and the private creditors must be initiated following a plan to be included in the macro-economic programme and led by the principles of proportionality, transparency, fairness and cross-border co-ordination (to avoid the risk of
  • 16. 16 contagion). The negotiations will be supported by standardized collective action clauses (CAC’s) “consistent with the CACs that are common in New York and English law” for new loans after 2013, the exact content of such clauses being meticulously described in the EMS agreement.” (Matthias, 2011) With regard to the question of whether EU law has been or will be breached given the process of exiting the Eurozone or the process of servicing outstanding debt obligations by EZ members, according to Matthias (2011), the breach occurred as a function of “rescuing activity.” (Matthias, 2011) “From the beginning, the Member States’ rescuing activity has been under close legal scrutiny by the European legal scholars, and rightly so. There are good reasons to submit that this policy is in breach of important provisions of the TFEU (Article 136).” (Matthias, 2011) Further, according to Matthias, (2011), “To begin with, Article 125ii TFEU is rather explicit: “The Union shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central Governments … of any Member State, … A Member State shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central Governments . . . of another Member State, …” In the present legal situation, a bailout by the Union (first sentence) or by one or more Member States (second sentence) is forbiddeniii . As a result, the decision of the Eurogroup of 2 May 2010 concerning Greece, the establishment of the EFSF, the extension of both in 2011 and the Eurogroup’s support for Ireland and Portugal are in breach of European Union law.” (Matthias, 2011) Additionally, Matthias (2011) does point to the reasoning behind the decision to support austerity as flawed as in unconvincing enough to breach EU law. “None of the counter- arguments brought forward against this reasoning is really convincing. The argument, that the
  • 17. 17 wording “shall not be liable for or assume the commitments” was related to a duty of liability or assumption of commitment, and that consequently a deliberate support was not contrary to Article 125iv TFEU was explicitly enshrined in the Treaty together with other articles – above all Articles 123, 124 and 126 FEU –to force the Member States to take up loans solely under the conditions of the financial markets and thus to consolidate their public spending for the benefit of the stability of the common currency.v ” (Matthias, 2011) Even the prospect of deliberate help by some Member States would operate against this target. In fact, other voices point at that ratio: a rule designed to stabilize the euro could not be put into place against measures aiming at the same stabilization – such as the rescue packages for the Member States in troublevi . This argument appears, when the Eurogroup claims to act “to safeguard financial stability in the euro area as a whole”, and it should not be easily dismissed. However, it is not valid in all of the cases at hand. The Greek part of the European economy is much too small and the options for the restructuring of debts are much too obvious – the safeguarding of financial stability did not demand a breach of the lawvii . But even if this was denied for Greece, at least in the Irish and Portuguese case it becomes apparent that a shift of the system from a strict “no-bailout” to mutual support cannot be achieved by the mere re- interpretation of a core article of the Treaties or an “implicit modification”viii , even if one considers a discretionary margin in favour of the Member States’ Governments in matters of economic emergency action.” (Matthias, 2011) In a sense, one cannot exclusively hold Greece accountable for the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. The global economy has been slow to grow year over year GDP to the point of mounting debt obligations and the servicing of said obligations. Although there has been tremendous growth in the emerging and frontier markets, the growth experienced in these areas
  • 18. 18 has spurred inflation, which is still a reflection of an economy seeking maturation. The decision to enable Greece into the Eurozone rendered under the suspicion of impropriety as Greece, expected to be an inferior economic contributor and somewhat of a ‘weak link’ to the monetary operations of the Eurozone. The actuality is of a handful of nations in the Eurozone that are potentially in danger of default, which is a default in euros, which will cause severe problems to the value of the currency as well as the downgrading of debt, potentially by the three debt rating agencies. Further analysis from Matthias (2011) reveals the following. “In addition, the basis for the ECB’s security markets programme is rather weak, as Article 123 TFEU explicitly prohibits the purchase of debt instruments from “central Governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of Member States”. Of course, it must be added that the prohibition only applies if such instruments are “purchased directly.” This very prohibition aims at avoiding the direct financing of States (or other public entities) by the ECB to undertake some open market operations in the fine-tuning of its monetary policy (Art. 18 ECB Statute), but not to circumvent the prohibition of financial support for Member States. If for instance Italian State bonds are bought by the ECB, this is currently done to keep them marketable and to keep interest rates at a lower level for Italy – and this is beyond what the bank is empowered to do under Article 123 TFEU and Article 18 of its Statute. Moreover, many of the bonds bought by the ECB are not “marketable instruments’ any more, due to the weakness of the debtor (in this case of Greece)ix .” (Matthias, 2011) Matthias (2011) goes on to question the compatibility of the IMF with “its Treaty powers” (Matthias, 2011) and the implications to “public international law” (Mathias, 2011). “As far as the legal system of the EU is concerned, even if a view was taken that stresses the
  • 19. 19 counter-arguments against the illustrated position, it would still be most disturbing that a complete shift in the EMU had been undertaken without setting aside the legal doubts. In its judgment of 7 September 2011, the Bundesverfassungsgericht upholds the German legislation implementing the Greek package and the EFSF. The Court concentrates on German constitutional law and only marginally (but rather explicitly) underlines the stabilizing function of Articles 123 and 125 TFEU together with a line of other articlesx . Earlier in 2010, the former French minister of finance, Christine Lagarde, quite openly admitted the unimportance of the Treaties for the policy options takenxi . In a European Union based on constitutional foundations, this is not a reassuring perspective.” (Matthias, 2011) Clearly, what Matthias (2011) has described as stated by former French minister of finance is to ostensibly stress the importance of the economic sovereignty of the euro as paramount and supersedes the governance and oversight of the EU law. However, the Treaty may inset an addendum to facilitate the ESM. According to Matthias (2011), “The new Article 136 TEU which will enable the creation of the ESM is intended to be inserted by a Treaty amendment following a simplified revision procedure under Article 48xii TEU due to the profound changes in the EMU’s institutional structure. However, there is no increase of “the competence conferred on the Union in the Treaties” – in which case the simplified procedure would be excluded -, as the proposed section empowers the Member States, not the EU. Consequently, the doubts raised are at least far less serious compared with the other points made herexiii .” (Matthias, 2011) However, Matthias does express concern regarding the facilitation of the ESM “as a new structure for emergency action outside the EU’s own institutional framework.” (Matthias, 2011) Additionally, according to Matthias (2011), “The ESM appears to be a regional copy of the IMF,
  • 20. 20 and it is totally “intergovernmental”; even more so, it is deliberately shaped as a tool for international cooperation beyond the EU level. Of course, the Member States are free to found new international organizations among themselves as a matter of principle, which may also include the marginal involvement of the common institutions as long as there is no judicial body of the new organizations among themselves as a matter of principle, which may also include the marginal involvement of the common institutions as long as there is no judicial body of the new organization competent to adjudicate in EU law mattersxiv . Nonetheless, the erection of a new international institution enhances the complexity of the design of European integration, and it also sidesteps some crucial features of the EU’s institutional concept, which should strive for more transparency and not for a complex plurality.” (Matthias, 2011) Matthias (2011) continues to address the concerns of the EU citizens, which he describes to be in regard to the “future of welfare and stability in the EU and, in this context, the question whether the tools chosen by the political actors are viable. According to Article 3 TEU, the Union promotes “the well-being of its peoples”. The economic side of this aim is further developed in sections 3 and 4 of the same article, including the principle of price stability (Article 3, 2nd sentence TEU). The risk that the ESM might conflict with this principle is obvious. The existing legal construction of the EMU following the Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP-1997) is one of strict stability which does not allow for emergency intervention because the prospect of such intervention would jeopardize the incentives to perform a solid budgetary and financial policy in the Member States.” (Matthias, 2011) Perhaps of the most important contribution Matthias has made to the Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis is the following. According to Matthias (2011), “It is one of the most important
  • 21. 21 elements of the EMU that it contained two rules limiting public debt from the outset: the 3% - limit for new debt and the 60%-limit for overall debt. In such a framework, a State debt that cannot be discharged needs restructuring with all consequences for the State concerned, in particular concerning future interest rates. Price stability is enhanced if a Member State must always take into account the risk of debt restructuring. The EFSF and the EFSM are thus a clear deviance from a legal concept.” (Matthias, 2011) With regard to the ECJ intervention capability, Matthias (2011) states the ECJ “can only intervene in the framework of Article 273 TFEU. Though the ESM is outside the institutional framework of the EU, its core principles have to be respected because the mechanism functions – via Article 1 36 TFEU – as an instrument to overcome the obstacles to establish a rescue mechanism within the Treaties. Requirements of national constitutional law might be added, as the German Bundesverfassungsgericht held that “mechanisms of considerable financial importance which can lead to incalculable burdens on the budget” would be impossible without mandatory approval by the German Bundestag.xv ” (Matthias, 2011) The path to requisition as described by Matthias (2011), “Out of the four measures within the reform package related to budgetary control, three concern the preventive limb, which first of all is reformed by a directive implementing prudent fiscal policy-making as a new principle of budgetary governance. Annual expenditure growth is oriented towards a “prudent medium-term rate of growth of GDP.” “Revenue windfalls” are to be used for debt reduction, not for excessive expenditure. Benchmarks are to be established by the Commission, and in case of deviance from these benchmarks, the Commission may issue a warning or the Council may (if the deviance is persistent and/or particularly serious) take corrective action under 121xvi TFEU.88.” (Matthias, 2011)
  • 22. 22 The implications to EU law & EU economic governance (Matthias, 2011), according to Matthias (2011), “The evaluation of European economic governance during the last eighteen months does not concern legal details and jurisprudential niceties. It is no exaggeration that some core principles of European Union law are at stake. Whether in the evaluation of emergency reaction or in the field of economic governance, three most disturbing questions had to be asked: about the integrity of European constitutionalism, about the future of democratic institutions in Europe, and about the conservation of wealth and stability as legal values in EU law.” (Matthias, 2011) In support of the EU law and the euro, Matthias (2011) closes with the following. “Doubts about the operability of a common currency in Europe are back in the discussion, and some scholars even feel an inclination for scientific support of EU –critics or adversaries to the EMU. But neither overdone or apology nor distinct rejection are helpful to serve as an overall direction of European legal scholarship. What is needed the most is an orientation towards the core principles of European Union Law. After all, the success of the EU in bringing forward peace, common European values and the well-being of its peoples is to a large extent, if not primarily, due to the concept of “integration through law”. Integration is on its way following the Lisbon Treaty, the euro has been the common currency for more than ten years now, and all this should not be jeopardized easily. It is the loss in public support caused by the developments that is most disturbing.” (Matthias, 2011) The next literature in review is “The Failure of the Euro” The Little Currency That Couldn’t” (Feldstein, 2012). Feldstein’s argument is central to the discussion of whether the euro should prevail as an integrating exchange unit for a politically and economically integrated network. In the words of Feldstein (2012), “The euro should now be recognized as an
  • 23. 23 experiment that failed. This failure, which has come after just over a dozen years since the euro was introduced, in 1999, was not an accident or the result of bureaucratic mismanagement but rather the inevitable consequence of imposing a single currency on a very heterogeneous group of countries.” (Feldstein, 2012) The next segment of the Feldstein argument defines the euro as an experimental currency doomed to fail. According to Feldstein (2012), “The adverse economic consequences of the euro include the sovereign debt crises in several European countries, the fragile condition of major European banks, high levels of unemployment across the Eurozone, and the large trade deficits that now plague most Eurozone countries. The political goal of creating a harmonious Europe has also failed. France and Germany have dictated painful austerity measures in Greece and Italy as a condition of their financial help, and Paris and Berlin have clashed over the role of the European Central Bank and over how the burden of financial assistance will be shared.” (Feldstein, 2012) Feldstein argues that a single currency must come with a “single fixed exchange rate within the monetary union and the same exchange rate relative values. Economists explained that the euro would therefore lead to greater fluctuations in output and employment, a much slower adjustment to declines in aggregate demand, and persistent trade imbalances between Europe and the rest of the world. Indeed, all these negative outcomes have occurred in recent years.” (Feldstein, 2012) The use of policy issued by the ECB designed to curb inflation, according to Feldstein (2012), “caused interest rates to fall in countries such as Italy and Spain, where expectations of high inflation had previously kept interest rates high. Households and governments in those
  • 24. 24 countries responded to the low interest rates by increasing their borrowing, with households using the increased debt to finance a surge in home building and housing prices and government using it to fund larger social programs. The result was rapidly rising ratios of public and private debt to gdp in several countries, including Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Spain.” (Feldstein, 2012) Feldstein argues the rising debt to GDP ratio in the aforementioned several countries including Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Spain, is the harbinger that will cause the euro to ultimately crash, rendering the outstanding debt to junk and lowering each respective sovereign debt rating to junk status. Due to the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, the debt issued by each Eurozone member was viewed to be as guaranteed as the German Bund and therefore Greece and Italy issued bonds with rates only a few basis points below that of the Bund long-term rates. Feldstein continues to state the following. “But the plan to increase the banks’ capital has not worked, because banks do not want to dilute the holdings of their current shareholders by seeking either private or public capital, and so instead they have been raising their capital ratios by reducing their lending, particularly to borrowers in other countries, causing a further slowdown in European economic activity. Nor can the efsf borrow the additional funds, since such a move is opposed by Germany, the largest potential guarantor of that debt. Moreover, even a trillion euros would not give the efsf enough funds to provide effective guarantees to potential buyers of Italian and Spanish debt if those countries might otherwise appear insolvent.” (Feldstein, 2012) Feldstein (2012) further states the supposed instability of the Eurozone as well as the lack of a provision within the Maastricht Treaty (Feldstein, 2012) for a Eurozone member to return to their legacy currency. According to Feldstein (2012), “The alternative is for Greece to leave the
  • 25. 25 Eurozone and return to its own currency. Although there is no provision in the Maastricht Treaty for such a move, political leaders in Greece and other countries are no doubt considering that possibility. Although Greece is benefiting from its membership in the Eurozone by receiving transfers from other Eurozone countries, it is paying a very high price in terms of unemployment and social unrest. Abandoning the euro now and creating a new drachma would permit a devaluation and a default that might involve much less economic pain than the current course.” (Feldstein, 2012) Feldstein also considers Germany to be at great risk when evaluating the risk posed by Greece and the potential contagion of Italy and Portugal to follow. According to Feldstein (2012), “Germany is now prepared to pay to try to keep Greece from leaving the Eurozone because it fears that a Greek defection could lead to a breakup of the entire monetary union, eliminating the fixed exchange rate that now benefits German exports and the German economy more generally. If Greece leaves and devalues, global capital markets might assume that Italy will consider a similar strategy. The resulting rise in the interest rate on its debt might then drive Italy to in fact do so. And if Italy reverts to a new lira and devalues it relative to other currencies, the competitive pressure might force France to leave the Eurozone and devalue a new franc. At that point, the emu would collapse.” (Feldstein, 2012) The process of leaving the EZ, as described by Feldstein (2012), may trigger a contiguous chain of events likely to destabilize the EU and cause a potential bank run on the exited EZ nation, for instance, Greece. According to Feldstein (2012), “Even though Germany is prepared to subsidize Greece and other countries to sustain the euro, Greece and others might nevertheless decide to leave the
  • 26. 26 monetary union if the conditions imposed by Germany are deemed too painful. Here is how that might work: although Greece cannot create the euros it needs to pay civil servants and make transfer payments, the Greek government could start creating new drachmas and declare that all contracts under Greek law, including salaries and shop prices, are payable in that currency; similarly, all bank deposits and bank loans would be payable in these new drachmas instead of euros. The value of the new drachma would fall relative to the euro, automatically reducing real wages and increasing Greek competitiveness without requiring Greece to go through a long and painful period of high unemployment. Instead, the lower value of the Greek currency would stimulate exports and a shift from imports to domestic goods and services. This would boost Greek gdp growth and unemployment.” (Feldstein, 2012) Political risks remain with regard to the exited EZ nation, for instance Greece, with regard to the forced exit from the EU considering no provision exists under the Maastricht Treaty detailing the manner in which a Eurozone member is to discharge from the Union. According to Feldstein (2012), “Another serious problem for Greece in making the transition to the new drachma would be the political risk of being forced out of the EU. Since the Maastricht Treaty provides no way for a member of the Eurozone to leave, there is the risk that the other Eurozone members would punish Greece by requiring it to leave the EU as well, causing Greece to lose the benefits that the EU offers of free trade and labor mobility. They might do so to discourage Italy and others from pursuing a similar exit strategy. But not all EU members would necessarily seek such a punishment, especially since ten of the 27 EU member countries do not use the euro and Greece’s situation is clearly more desperate than that of Italy or Spain.” (Feldstein, 2012) Given the level of Debt/GDP x > 100% which equates to negative net GDP growth for Greece, the notion of a restructure is intuitive. Additionally, the restructuring will allow Greece
  • 27. 27 to reduce its involvement in the EZ and facilitate a move out. According to Feldstein (2012), “The primary practical problem with leaving the Eurozone would be that some Greek businesses and individuals have borrowed in euros from banks outside Greece. Since those loans are not covered by Greek law, the Greek government cannot change these debt obligations from euros to new drachmas. The decline in the new drachma relative to the euro would make it much more expensive for Greek debtors to repay those loans. Widespread bankruptcies of Greek individuals and businesses could result, with secondary effects on the Greek banks that those individuals and businesses have borrowed from.” (Feldstein, 2012) Recent developments from the EZ have indicated a debt write-down of a percentage on the dollar outstanding as agreed upon by the debt holders seeking restitution. According to Feldstein, (2012), “But as the experience of Argentina after it ended its link to the dollar in 2002 showed, domestic Greek debtors might end up paying only a fraction of those euro debts. For Greece, the option to leave the monetary union may therefore be very tempting. Greece’s departure need not tempt Italy, Spain, or others to leave. For them, the cost of leaving could exceed that of adjusting their economies while remaining inside the Eurozone. Unlike Greece, they can avoid insolvency by adjusting their budget and trade deficits without radical changes in policy.” (Feldstein, 2012) Within the framework of the argument put forth by Feldstein, Greece’s economic outlook within the Eurozone is as bleak as the Debt/GDP ratio. The ability to pay back the outstanding debt in aggregate is impossible and represents the fault of all involved, including the investors, as the necessary due diligence was not performed to render Greece’s financial instability and the misrepresentations on the balance sheet. Although the impropriety, initiated by Greece, the
  • 28. 28 investors obligingly accepted the risk of Greek sovereign debt should have foreseen the risk of default should the global economic conditions unravel a sort of downside tail-risk. Feldstein (2012) has included a synopsis of the mitigation plans discussed by the German Chancellor and the Eurozone officials. The three-plan approach, which is essentially a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C, implemented to prevent contagion and enable the security and growth of the EU after the exit of a member EZ nation. According to Feldstein (2012), “Commercial banks should increase their capital ratios and that the size of the European Financial Stability Facility (efsf), which had been created in May 2010 to finance government borrowing by Greece and other Eurozone countries, should be expanded from 400 billion euros to more than a trillion euros. This latter move was meant to provide insurance guarantees that would allow Italy and potentially Spain to access capital markets at a reasonable interest rates.” (Feldstein, 2012) Plan A, mentioned above, seeks to recapitalize the banks. However, this is identical to the English adage of ‘throwing good money after bad money’. The following paragraph, according to Feldstein (2012), details why recapitalization did not work. “The plan to increase the banks’ capital has not worked, because banks do not want to dilute the holdings of their current shareholders by seeking either private or public capital, and so instead they have been raising their capital ratios by reducing their lending, particularly to borrowers in other countries, causing a further slowdown in European economic activity. Nor can the efsf borrow the additional funds, since such a move is opposed by Germany, the largest potential guarantor of that debt. Moreover, even a trillion euros would not give the efsf enough funds to provide effective guarantees to potential buyers of Italian and Spanish debt if those countries might otherwise appear insolvent.” (Feldstein, 2012)
  • 29. 29 The second strategy (advocated by France) (Feldstein, 2012) and third strategy, according to Feldstein (2012), are suggested to be quantitative easing by the ECB and a move to a “fiscal union” (Feldstein, 2012). The following paragraph details Plan B with regard to the Eurozone exit. According to Feldstein (2012), “The ecb to buy the bonds of Italy, Spain, and other countries with high debt to keep their interest rates low. The ecb has already been doing this to a limited extend, but not enough to stop Greek ad Italian rates from reaching unsustainable levels. Asking the ecb to expand this policy would directly contradict the “no bailout” terms of the Maastricht Treaty. Germany opposes such a move because of its inflationary potential and the risk of losses on those bonds. (Two German members of the ecb’s executive board have resigned over this issue.) (Feldstein, 2012) The third strategy, according to Feldstein (2012), “is favored by those figures, such as (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel, who want to use the current crisis to advance the development of a political union. They call for a fiscal union in which those countries with budget surpluses would transfer funds each year to the countries running budget deficits and trade deficits. In exchange for these transfers, the European Commission would have the authority to review national budgets and force countries to adopt policies that would reduce their fiscal deficits, increase their growth, and raise their international competitiveness.” (Feldstein, 2012) Feldstein (2012) also believes the EZ will continue without losing any current member nations. “Looking ahead, the Eurozone is likely to continue with almost all its current members. The challenge now will be to change the economic behavior of those countries. Formal constitutionally mandated balanced-budget rules of the type recently adopted by Germany, Italy, and Spain would, if actually implemented, put each country’s national debt on a path to a
  • 30. 30 sustainable level. New policies must avoid current account deficits in the future by limiting the volume of national imports to amounts that can be financed with export earnings and direct foreign investment. Such measures should make it possible to sustain the euro without future crises and without the fiscal transfers that are now creating tensions within Europe.” (Feldstein, 2012) The Editorial Comment (2011) of the Common Market Law Review provides a detailed synopsis of the process regarding the most logical of the possible debt restructurings. According to Editorial Comment (2011), “Firstly, concerning the private Greek debt restructuring, the officially released Euro Summit statement merely states that Greece, private investors and all parties concerned are invited to develop a voluntary bond exchange with a nominal discount of 50 percent on notional Greek debt held by private investors. There is thus no real banking deal yet. In the early hours of 27 October, the Euro leaders only reached an agreement on a 50 percent haircut with the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the lobby group representing the banking sector. The Euro leaders had placed the IIF between a rock and a hard place: if the banks did not agree to accept a substantial debt restructuring, the political leaders would no longer remain opposed to a disorderly Greek default.” (Editorial Comment, 2011) The stipulations regarding a default strategy for the largest debtor, according to the Editorial Comment (2011) “will only stand if at least 90 percent of the individual banks voluntarily accept then. It is not certain yet that this will actually happen. Only in this scenario could the activation of Credit Default Swaps (CDS contracts) be avoided, which would saddle certain insurance companies with billion dollar claims. In addition, it must also not be overlooked that the deal only concerns debt restructuring imposed on the private sector. This represents about half of the total Greek debt. The rest of the debt remains in the public hands.
  • 31. 31 Thanks to this deal, if it ever materializes, and in combination with planned structural reforms of the economy, Greece could possibly aim for a government debt GDP ratio of 120 percent by 2020, which is still double the maximum amount permitted under the terms of the SGP. Greece is thus handed a lifeline, nothing else. In any event, austerity will be the order of the day for many years to come in Greece.” (Editorial Comment, 2011) The bailout or emergency fund is also critical to the argument put forth by the Editorial Comment (2011) as the fund is the measure by the Euro-17 to maximize efforts to ensure protection against contagion. According to the Editorial Comment (2011), “In other words, the Euro-17 countries did not deposit any further own resources in the fund. Rather, they preferred to explore two other options to leverage the resources of the EFSF: 1) providing credit enhancement to new government debt, thereby reducing the funding cost. The option to purchase this risk insurance would be offered to private investors. 2) Maximizing the funding arrangements of the EFSF with a combination of resources from private and public financial institutions and investors from emerging markets such as China or Brazil via the use of Special Purpose Vehicles. The Euro Summit Statement indicates that the EFSF can use both these options simultaneously, and that the leverage effect of each option could be up to four or five. Taking into account that there currently still is some 200–250 billion euros in the coffers from the EFSF, this could possibly result in a firewall of 1000 billion euros.” (Editorial Comment, 2011) Since an escape clause is not included in the Maastricht Treaty the recommended course of action as stated by Editorial Comment (2011) is to amend the Treaty. According to the Editorial Comment (2011), “For all the commotion about the 50 percent write-off of private Greek debt and the virtual 1000 billion euro in the EFSF, it cannot conceal the reality that – a
  • 32. 32 number of measures of secondary importance notwithstanding – no concrete decisions have been taken with regard to the governance structure of the Eurozone. There are essentially two options available to put this right: either we revise the Treaty, or we stay within the existing Treaty frameworkxvii . The former option has the unmistakable advantage that the birth defect of the Euro can be rectified once and for all, namely the fact that monetary policy became a Union competence, whereas economic policy essentially remained a national competencexviii .” (Editorial Comment, 2011) The procedure with regard to Treaty change, described by the Editorial Comment (2011) as a viable opportunity for sovereign government to obtain greater control over EU affairs as negotiated and thereby amended in the Treatise. According to the Editorial Comment (2011), “The procedure may prove to be a cumbersome once again: the UK, for instance may very well seize the opportunity to renegotiate the British terms of EU membership and try to bring certain competencies back home. All this means that the latter option, of trying to find a workable solution on the basis of the existing Treaty framework, is the more likely one. Articles 121 and 126 TFEU provide little room for manoeuvre in this respect. The residual Article 352 TFEU might also be considered, but Article 352 TFEU requires unanimity in the Council: and besides, the EU Court of Justice has limited use of the Article 352 TFEU in practice.xix . This arguably leaves Article 136 TFEU as the best option for the Euro Member States to introduce any changes to the Euro governance structure. But everything will hinge upon the willingness of the European institutions to accommodate eventual changes under Article 136 TFEU.” (Editorial Comment, 2011) The next literature in review is “The European Debt Crisis and European Union Law” Ruffert (2011). The Ruffert work is of particular importance as there is detailed reference to the
  • 33. 33 policy amendments necessary for the ESM to ensure the sanctity of the euro and retain each member state. According to Ruffert (2011), “The Treaty amendment should be ratified as quickly as possible to ensure that the new paragraph enters into force on 1 January 2013 already. The ESM will follow the EFSF in June 2013; the EFSM will not be continued after that date. The ESM is established according to the model of the IMF with an effective lending capacity of 500 billion euros (subject to renewal) to be used for financial assistance “on the basis of strict policy conditionality under a macro-economic adjustment programme and a rigorous analysis of public-debt sustainability.” It will be an institution of the Member States of the euro area that gives other Member States the opportunity to participate “on an ad hoc basis.xx ” As a matter of fact, the new ESM will be created by a Treaty between the euro area Member States “As a matter of fact, the new ESM will be created by a Treaty between the euro area Member States “as an intergovernmental organization under public international law” located in Luxembourg. Hence, we are going to be faced with a public international legal SPV or a European mirror image of the IMF – according to the perspective one takes. Member States joining the euro area will automatically become a member of the ESM.” (Ruffert, 2011) Ruffert (2011) describes the reorganization as the following. “The international organization will be governed by the Ministers of Finance of the euro area. Member States forming its Board of Governors – the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the President of the ECB holding observer status. The Board will elect a “Chairperson” and decide by qualified majority according to the Member States respective capital subscriptions (80% being defined as the qualified majority) or by mutual agreement (unanimity without abstentions preventing adoption) in the most important cases: the granting of financial assistance (including terms and conditions), the fixing of the ESM lending capacity and changes in the menu of
  • 34. 34 instruments. Internal disputes are to be settled by the Board of Governors, subject to submission to the ECJ under Article 273 TFEU.” (Ruffert, 2011) Additionally, Ruffert (2011) details the capital structure of the ESM (Ruffert, 2011) such that the debt rating is to be at or near AAA. According to Ruffert (2011), “The total capital will amount to 700 billion euros, thus a substantial augmentation of the current capital of the EFSF (440 billion). What is more, the ESM will be provided with a paid-in capital of 80 billion phased in by the Member States in five equal annual instalments from 2013 to 2017 following the paid- in capital key of the ECB (e.g. France: 20.3859%, Spain: 11.9037%, Germany: 27.1464%). The contribution key is also relevant for qualified majority voting. To implement Article 136 TFEU (after the envisaged amendment), the ESM can intervene by loans subject to strict conditionality under a macro-economic adjustment programme.” (Ruffert, 2011) The safety net provided by ESM, deemed as “stability support” (Ruffert, 2011), is intended to prevent the need to enact Plan B which is quantitative easing. According to Ruffert (2011), “The purchase of bonds of the Member State that is in severe financing problems. In this cases, the ESM takes over what was initially implemented with the ECB’s security markets programme and later transferred to the EFSF. It is important to note that the operation of the ESM will include private sector involvement. If it is concluded, after a debt sustainability analysis in line with IMF practice, “that a macro-economic adjustment programme can realistically restore the public debt to a sustainable path,” the main private creditors are to be encouraged to maintain their exposures. If this is denied, negotiations between the Member State concerned and the private creditors must be initiated following a plan to be included in the macro-economic programme and led by the principles of proportionality, transparency, fairness and cross-border co-ordination (to avoid the risk of contagion). Finally, the emergency clause of
  • 35. 35 Article 122 TFEU deserves scrutinizing. This rule provides an exception allowing bailout activity of the EU via financial assistance, “where a Member State is in difficulties or is seriously threatened with severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control …” (Ruffert, 2011) Ruffert (2011) does outline a plan that is rather intuitive to any economist, central planner, or strategic planner open to amending and reinterpreting the Maastricht Treaty to facilitate the voluntary removal of a member nation in a manner that is beneficial to the survival of the Euro and in a manner in which contagion is preventable. The prospect of appeasing private creditors via the macroeconomic programme and facilitating bailout funding to the public holders of the sovereign debt in a binary attempt to satisfy all claimants perhaps is the most viable solution to enable the return the flow of the principle capital investment to primary investors of the sovereign debt. Article 122 TFEU is the cause that does enable the use of public debt within a pooled aggregate fund for emergency debt refinancing and debt maintenance of any member state threatened with removal from the EZ due to financial hardship. Discussion To facilitate the exit of any sovereign member of the Eurozone, a number of questions, present as bulleted points below, to evaluate the risk to contagion as well as establish a macro view of the interrelated connections and to estimate probabilities for any particular event to occur that will create excessive risk to the money and banking system. The questions asked, listed below, are answered in the pages that follow.  The Optimum Monetary Reconfiguration  Implications for Sovereign Debt, Private Savings, and Domestic Mortgages
  • 36. 36  The Effects on the Stability of the Banking System  Approaches to Transition  The Institutions Implications The optimum monetary configuration of any member nation seeking to leave the Eurozone refers to the optimum configuration with regard to the return to the legacy currency. The optimum configuration is indeed oxymoronic as optimum given the fiscal disorder of the house in consideration is far from ‘optimum’ to which the currency valuation will be far removed from the value of exchange enjoyed under the euro. However, the restructuring of debt in euros held inside and outside of the Eurozone will provide the opportunity necessary for the default economy and establish a viable global macroeconomic position to which future GDP growth can facilitate the repayment of debt obligations as well as support the notion of returning to the Eurozone as an active participant. The optimum configuration is indeed an estimation of the legacy valuation given the exposure to debt after the debt restructuring in euros, to which the haircut will reveal anywhere from ½ to ¾ or more reduction in outstanding debt obligations. Such a reduction will not over burden the drachma once reinstated, however, the question of interest rates, which is a function of coupon payments and the yield-to-maturity- YTM on new debt issues is a function of interest rate theory. The market for sovereign bonds especially in the times of the ‘new normal’, that is, the elevated rise in unemployment within the Eurozone to essentially give rise to a situation where Germany is driving the prowess of the economic union. To which, Germany chancellors and leaders were skeptical of joining the euro for reasons related to economic support of member
  • 37. 37 nations as a function in the valuation of not only the underlying exchange currency, but the structure regarding the interest rate and relative risk in downside volatility of the bonds issued and outstanding. The problem with issuing new debt to the exited EZ nation with repayment in the legacy currency is the interest rate cannot be too high as to overburden the debt maintenance process whilst facilitating the necessary payments to repay the principle. Therefore, the optimal monetary amount cannot be optimal as the valuation of debt and currency will not be a direct reflection of the underlying economic situation faced by the exited nation and its legacy currency. The reality of the situation is to understand the calculation to obtain the optimal interest rate on the long-term debt issues, pegged to the legacy currency, will yield a junk bond rating to which the optimal interest rate will yield two different interpretations. The first interpretation is one with which the optimal minima favored by the issuing government and the second interpretation is one with which the optimal maxima is favored by the investor seeking return relative to risk. Therefore, comparatively speaking using the two economy model of low debt rating risk exposure (U.S, Greece), if the optimal minima on new Greek debt issues (drachma), whilst still retaining the junk bond status is arbitrarily 6.5% with the 1 year LIBOR at 1.10%xxi which is a linear climb from under 1.00% one year ago, and if the U.S. 30 year fixed mortgage mean (3.87%xxii ) is above core inflation, then the US central bank policy of enabling easy money and liquidity into the market, which does function to keep nominal interest rates at or near zero percent does facilitate the notion of earning 6.5% on what ostensibly is to be considered junk status bonds with very high risk of default. Upside volatility measured as tail-risk exposure in this case, expected to be a function of payment of interest via
  • 38. 38 two variables to include interest payment as determined by the underlying structure of the debt instrument as well as repayment of principle in full. The currency valuation is a function of relative notes outstanding in the market, determined by calculating velocity exchange moving averages over a 6-month period. Often, economists miscalculate the real rate of inflation due to not calculating the velocity exchange, a function of the receipts from consumer basket goods purchases. Simply stated, should the six month average of consumer basket goods purchases decrease, there is a decrease or a shift to the left in real spending and therefore in economic velocity exchange. Should the economy indeed prove to be in an expansionary business cycle growth phase, as measured as a quarter over quarter growth in GDP, the expected result is net savings in the domestic economy. Even with interest rates low, the outcome suggests a measure of inflation control to which the currency value will appreciate, increasing the real return on the real interest rate due to the increase in the real interest rate from the nominal interest rate. The optimal currency valuation is hence, considered a market determinant to which the initial calculation will only function as a rough estimate to which potential arbitrage opportunities may exist prior to the market adjustment of the currency valuation. However, such a situation provides a hedge for investors of the new debt issues as the underlying risk to interest rates may utilize a hedging strategy in the currency swaps market or simply by taking positions (straddles, etc.) in the currency options market. The notion of risk management and volatility measure for parameter control is critical to ensuring that investors are protected using divergent binary strategies that enable the removal of initial exposure to the risk of holding the new debt.
  • 39. 39 As each debt issue approaches its time constraint, which is the asymptote on the yield curve, or the equivalent to the date of maturity, and if considering the underlying economics of the domestic economy of the debtor nation does improve as a function of the increase in GDP, then an investor holding the legacy debt issues may relinquish any currency hedge position or allow any call option to expire, which is applicable should the investor hold call options for protection against exposure to the downside risk on the bonds. The currency hedge is to protect against downside risk exposure, expected to be subject to reduction, as the interpretation of the improving underlying economy should infer an increase in the probability of principle repayment. To determine the ‘optimal’ monetary reconfiguration, one must consider the relative risk of the debt outstanding as the determinant of the currency conversion rate necessary to convert outstanding legacy debt valued in euro’s relative to the underlying legacy currency of the creditor bank. Therefore, if Greece has 500 billion euros in debt held by France, the drachma must be valued as a function of the franc relative to the underlying debt exposure after the debt restructuring. Greece’s aggregate debt outstanding is to be tabulated and dissected into tranches, which reflect the percentage owed to nation, represented by each underlying legacy currency. The conversion rate used is a function of the underlying debt enumerated as a weighted bond value that discounted further by 50% to reflect the haircut of the debt restructuring. As German debt, considered as the most secure within the EZ, the valuation curve is a function of German as risk-free or 100%. Additionally, the conversion rate, Ceteris Paribus, must reflect the debt restructuring. Therefore, a 50% haircut will result in halving of the conversion rate. Additionally, the as the Greek Debt/GDP is over 100%, the currency will be discounted by 25%, which is essentially a
  • 40. 40 devaluation of the currency as if artificially inflated. The conversion table that depicts the optimum monetary configuration is available in Appendix II. The exit of any sovereign nation and approaches to the transition process from the Eurozone has tricky implications to the current and future sovereign debt rating(s), investor confidence in outstanding debt, and in the marketability of future debt issues. A Greek exit from the Eurozone will enable investors to price in the maximum exposure to risk of Greece as well as price out any risk from the Greek economy with regard to new sovereign debt issues from any sovereign Eurozone member and from the ECB. Although highly unlikely due to vehement opposition from the ECJ magistrate, parliamentary leaders, minister of finance, and the interpretation of the Maastricht Treaty, if Germany were to leave the Eurozone, the implication to sovereign debt is considerable. The exit is considerable as downside volatility as measured by movement in the euro currency basket to which the real to nominal value of the debt undergoes a divergent movement path. Additionally, downside risk is such that all outstanding debt must now yield at least an acceptable rate of interest from sovereign debt as the investor seeks expects higher return relative to higher risk on all outstanding debt issued from sovereign nations of the EZ, including on all future issues, and of all current and future issues from the ECB. Private savings the stability of the banking system are always in jeopardy as a function of a bank run in the most afflicted (debt ridden) EZ member nations, if default is expected and should legacy currency measures advance. The role and ability of the ESM here is critical. The ESM may function as a parallel to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation of the U.S., such that the ESM may guarantee the bank deposits of up to 10 times the amount of the median national poverty income level. This ratio is akin to the U.S. ratio of FDIC protection of $100,000 with a median national poverty income level of approximately $10,000. The
  • 41. 41 protection of bank deposits will prevent a devaluation of the currency by flooding the market with euros, which also will destabilize the Greek banking sector, which seeks to precipitate a banking contagion where economies in danger of default also experience a bank run. Domestic mortgages as paid and valued in euros must be restructured and marked-to- market under the new legacy currency. Therefore, a mortgage contract agreed and signed upon under the original EZ terms with the underlying collateral market value in euros must be discounted as function of 100% maximum housing value as a determinant of the valuation of the drachma. Interest rates associated with the restructured and refinanced mortgages must be supported with the equivalent of Mortgage Backed Securities issued by the ECB and backed by the ESM. The restructured mortgage and the MBS are integrated for tranche risk measure and return valuation, and sold to investors, which the underlying mortgage risk supporting the Greek collateral obligation are mitigated with the relative interest payment and stability of the ECB/ESM issued MBS. If the mortgage owner does hold a mortgage in another EZ country, France for example, and is subject to personal savings restructuring to the legacy currency, the negotiating bank must then accept an agreement from the ESM that facilitates payment in euros. The ESM payment is expected to cover the difference between debt owed on the mortgage in euros and the debt in the legacy currency once the legacy currency goes into effect. For example, if the mortgage, including interest, is valued at 700,000 euros, and if parity value for housing in the Greek market equates a house valued at 700,000 euros (weighted 100%) to be 300,000 drachma (weighted 100%), then the difference in value will be paid by the ESM to ensure integrity in the banking and housing market.
  • 42. 42 Implications to international contracts held by any nation subject to removal from the EZ (Greece, Portugal, etc.) and priced in euros represent a divergent exposure to risk. The stability of the euro relative to other currency baskets and as a measure of value will undermine the integrity of the existing contract such that the legacy currency will effectively force a revaluation and ostensibly a renegotiation of the underlying asset and collateral value as enforced by the contract. To protect the stability of the banking system, each at-risk international contract must be parlayed by hedging with currency swaps and credit default swaps. There is not a direct way to ensure the safety of international contracts denominated in euros unless the euros exchanged into Eurodollars and held in a Eurobank, to which downside volatility of risk exposure to the euro is removed and placed essentially on the USD. The USD is a liquid currency to which the underlying debt issued as a function of the USD purchasable by the ECB and other central banks. The value of the international contracts expressed as euros are exchangeable for Eurodollars, effectively removing the exposure to the euro and allowing the contract to be revalued as a function of the legacy currency against the USD. Although these measures ultimately are subject to negotiation and agreement, this method effectively mitigates the exposure of a euro to legacy by switching to the Eurodollar/USD to legacy valuation. If managed properly, effectively, and with an eye toward the prevention of contagion, the exit of any EZ member nation and the net effect on the banking system will be a function of variance in volatility. If a member with a copious debt outstanding does choose to exit the euro, necessary measures are to protect the value of the euro as well as the outstanding debt that is valued in euros. Eurodollars as well as currency swaps, credit default swaps, and the ESM issued MBS will collectively enable a plan of protection that will protect the underlying asset value of euro denominated assets held in the banking system as well as the value of the euro. As
  • 43. 43 USD is entered into the market, the debt issued should be purchased by Greece, as quantitative easing to which the drachma is purchased by the ECB to release debt priced in euros and sold to investors seeking a return in euros and willing to accept underlying exposure to, in this case, the drachma. The aforementioned strategy seeks to protect the underlying asset and currency within the banking system via a multi-tiered, staggered and integrated release of quantitative easing using the US dollar, the Japanese Yen, the German Deutsche Mark, the Great Britain Pound, and the Euro (ECB). The release of each aforementioned currency into the economy and subsequent removal from the economy performed using a round robin system of quantitative easing as a function of controlling the supply of the legacy currency and protecting the inflationary pressure and interest rate risk associated with new debt releases. Approaches to Transition & Institutional Implications The transition process includes the move from the euro to the legacy currency, as well as the exit of the legacy nation from the Eurozone, and the transition from a quasi-independent political entity to a completely independent political and economic entity. The legacy nation must plan and control its own budget as a function of a ‘long-term’ strategic plan established to set the legacy economy on track to rejoin the euro over x time. A strategic plan, strategic budget, and capital investment must all be present to guide the transition prior to the exit. Indeed, if employment rises in the weeks before the exit, the impact on the banking system, readily mitigated, is better able to absorb volatility. Details on page 35 detail the broader mitigation plan.
  • 44. 44 The investment into the legacy economy is a direct injection loan system from the ESM to Greek banks that then lend in drachmas, the capital amount to private manufacturing for capital necessary to create jobs and grow GDP. The lower the cost of production, the more competitive price of the good and greater the contribution toward reinvestment into the domestic economy and into savings. Process control and performance improvement as a function of the reduction in process variance and increase in quality per unit are catalysts toward achieving a lower cost of production. The second strategy, or Plan B, referenced by Feldstein (2012) is a controlled quantitative easing plan and is similar to the proposal in this paper except that instead of the ECB acting as sole enabler of the EZ debt, the ESM will have a more active role in mitigating risk and introducing capital into the market as necessary. The buttressing of the ESM on the issuance of debt by the ECB will allow emergency fund capital to work actively in favor of the ECB by replacing the capital entered into the market as liquidity. The institutional implications are subject to the Maastricht Treaty and the legal parameters governing the sphere of influence outlined within the Treaty. Institutions with financial and political implications include the following. The IMF, the ECJ, the JHA (Nugent, pg. 368-9, 2006), the European Council (EC) (Nugent, pg. 371, 2012), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (et al), the European Social Fund (ESF) (et al), the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (et al), the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) (et al), and the Cohesion Fund (CF) (et al). The IMF lending activity may be in violation of its Maastricht Treaty powers to which the EFSF has mimicked powers as a function of Article 122 TFEU (Ruffert, 2011).
  • 46. 46 Appendix II Foreign 0.25% Conversion Euro Oct, 10 yr Amount Reduction Rate Amount bond yields, low is good Austria Austria Schilling ATS Divided by 2.5418 = 1 EUR 2.92 Belgium Belgian Franc BEF Divided by 4.805 = 1 EUR 4.2 Germany Deutsche Mark DEM Divided by 0.977915 = 1 EUR 2 Spain Spanish Peseta ESP 125.30125 Divided by 100.241 = 1 EUR 5.26 Finland Finnish Markka FIM Divided by 2.972865 = 1 EUR 2.51 France French Franc FRF 4.0997313 Divided by 3.279785 = 1 EUR 2.99 Greece Greek Drachma GRD 1210.1688 Divided by 968.135 = 1 EUR 18.04 Ireland Irish Pound IEP 103.99125 Divided by 83.193 = 1 EUR 8.1 Italy Italian Lira ITL 212.96875 Divided by 170.375 = 1 EUR 5.97 Luxemburg Luxembou rg Franc LUF Divided by 2.817 = 1 EUR 2.37 The Netherlands Dutch Guilder NLG Divided by 2.20371 = 1 EUR 2.46 Portugal Portuguese Escudo PTE 327.81188 Divided by 262.2495 = 1 EUR 11.72 Country Currency x / 2 Original Source: http://uwo.ca/finance/travel/docs/euroconv.html Original Source for the bond yields: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/nov/07/euro- debt-crisis-data#data The data in the table above has been modified from its original format to reflect a more approximate and realistic analysis of the underlying legacy value
  • 47. 47 References Bankrate.com. (2012). LIBOR, other interest rate indexes. Bankrate Inc. www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/libor.aspx Editorial comment. (2011). Common Market Law Review, 48(6), 1769-1776. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/915652247?accountid=13044 EUROPEAN UNION: Euro-area brokers greek rescue deal. (2010). United Kingdom: Oxford Analytica Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/192467909?accountid=13044 Data Blog facts are sacred. (2011). Eurozone debt crisis: the key charts you need to understand what’s happening. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/nov/07/euro-debt-crisis- data#data Feldstein, M. (2012). The failure of the euro: The little currency that couldnt. Foreign Affairs, 91(1), 105-116. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/912658291?accountid=13044 Henry, D. (2012). Date With Drachma Nears as Less Is More in Europe: The Ticker. Bloomberg View. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/date-with-drachma-nears-as-less-is-more- in-europe-the-ticker.html Nugent, N. (2012). The Government And Politics of the European Union. 6th Edition. Duke University Press. Ruffert, M. (2011). The european debt crisis and european union law. Common Market Law Review, 48(6), 1777-1805. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/915650598?accountid=13044 i On private sector involvement see Conclusions of the European Council, cited supra note 3 1 , Annex II, pp. 29 et seq. - with quotations in the text -, and Preamble no. (9) of the ESM Draft Treaty. ii But see the warning facts reported by Snyder, "EMU-integration and differentiation: Metaphor for European Union", in Craig and De Burea (Eds.), The Evolution of EU Law, 2nd ed. (OUP, 2011), p. 713. iii Lenaerts and Van Nuffel, European Union Law, 3rd ed. (20 11), para 1 1 -037; Schorkopf, "Gestaltung mit Recht", 136 AÖR (2011), 339; Hentschelmann, "Finanzhilfen im Lichte der No Bailout- Klausel - Eigenverantwortung und Solidarität in der Währungsunion", (20 11) EuR, 289 et seq. Cf. also Kube and Reimer, "Grenzen des Europäischen Stabilisierungsmechanismus", (2010) NJW, 1913, who argue that the EFSF was an illicit circumvention of the prohibition. iv On private sector involvement see Conclusions of the European Council, cited supra note 3 1 , Annex II, pp. 29 et seq. - with quotations in the text -, and Preamble no. (9) of the ESM Draft Treaty. v Cf. Louis, op. cit. supra note 5, 977, who rightly says that this is the "'budgetary code' of the Union"; Hahn and Häde, Währungsrecht (2010), para 27/19 et seq.; Häde, "Die europäische Währungsunion in der internationalen Finanzkrise -An den Grenzen europäischer Solidarität?", (2010) EuR, 855 et seq.; Frenz and Ehlenz, "Der Euro ist gefährdet: Hilfsmöglichkeiten bei drohendem Staatsbankrott",
  • 48. 48 (2010) Europäisches Wirtschafts- und Steuerrecht, 61 et seq. Some authors, however, wisely predicted that the EMU contained, from its outset, a de facto obligation to rescue defaulting partners (Herdegen, "Price stability and budgetary restraints in the Economic and Monetary Union: The law as guardian of economic wisdom", 35 CML Rev. (1998), 22, and similarly Amtenbrink and De Haan, "Economic governance in the European Union: Fiscal policy discipline versus flexibility", 46 CML Rev. (2003), 1093). This, of course, does not create a legal obligation or even power. vi This was the core argument of the German Federal Government in the proceedings before the Bundesverfassungsgericht, developed by its representative: Häde, "Rechtsfragender EU- Rettungsschirme", (2011) Zeitschrift für Gesetzgebung, 6 et seq., id., in Calliess and Ruffert, op. cit. supra note 72, Art. 125 AEUY para 8. vii Cf. Faßbender, "Der europäische 'Stabilisierungsmechanismus' im Lichte von Unionsrecht und deutschem Verfassungsrecht", (2010) Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht, 801. viii This is rightly rejected by Schröder, "Die Griechenlandhilfen im Falle ihrer Unionsrechtswidrigkeit", (201 1) DÖV, 63 et seq. ix Withregardto the ECB' s competences cf. Seidel, "Editorial", (2010) EuZW, 521, and - with less rigidity - Müller-Graff, "Die europäische Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion: Rechtliche Rahmendaten für Reformen", in Bechtold, Jickeli and Rohe (Eds.), Recht, Ordnung und Wettbewerb, Festschrift zum 70. Geburtstag von Wernhard Möschel (2011), ? . 890. Häde, op. cit. supra note 44, 20 et seq., takes a different view, and so does obviously Louis, op. cit. supra note 5, 975. x This could trigger off an indirect control by this Court in the future. xi "We violated all the rules because we wanted to close ranks and really rescue the euro -zone." quoted from: <www.reuters.com/article/20 10/12/1 8/us-france-lagardeidUSTRE6BH0V020101218> (last visited 4 Oct. 201 1). xii Cf. <ec .europa.eu/economy_f inance/articles/eu_economic_situation/2 010-05-03statement- commissioner-rehn-imf-on-greece_en.htm> (last visited 4 Oct. 2011). The original Communication is no longer online (!). xiii Similarly Calliess, "Perspektiven des Euro zwischen Solidarität und Recht - Eine rechtliche Analyse der Griechenlandhilfe und des Retlungsschirms", (2011) Zeitschrift für Europarechtliche Stuthen, 278. xiv See for the latest case in the line Opinion 1/09 of 8 March 201 1 (Patents Court). xv The quotation in English is drawn from the press release. There is a following decision on the implementation in Germany which temporarily stops the operation of a particular parliamentary committee: decision of 27 Oct. 201 1, 2 BvE 8/11. xvi Cf. Streinz, Ohler and Herrmann, Der Iter trag von Lissabon zur Reform der EU, 3 rd ed. (2010), p. 86, who talk about some "fine-tuning". Cf. also Stotz, "Neuerungen im Bereich der Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion", in Schwarze (Ed.), Der Verfassungsentwurf des Europäischen Konvents (Nomos, 2004), pp. 225 et seq. xvii See also Piris, “Divide Europe, save the Union”, The FinancialTimes, 4 Nov. 2011; Van den Bogaert, Ich bin ein ¤uropäer – Een uitweg uit de monetaire crisis? (inaugural lecture, Leiden University, 2010), available at media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/oratie-van-den-bogaert.pdf xviii Louis, “The Economic and Monetary Union: Law and institutions”, 41 CML Rev. (2004), 1075; Smits, “Het Stabiliteits- en Groeipact Nagekeken”, 58 SEW (2004), 53. xix Case C-295/90, Parliament v. Council [1992] ECR I-4193; Opinion 2/94, Accession of the Community to the European Human Rights Convention [1996] ECR I-1759 xx The Draft was not published before the beginning of July 2011 (<consilium.europa.eu/media/1216793/esm%20Treaty%20en.pdf> (last visited 4 Oct. 2011)). The outline (“term sheet”) of the ESM is designed in the Conclusions of the European Council of 24/25 March 2011, Doc. EUCO 10/1/11 REV 1. Quotations are from the term shee xxi http://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/libor.aspx xxii http://www.bankrate.com/rates/interst-rates/libor.aspx