Reuters: US Dollar Report: TIMELINE-European ministerial meetings in 2011/2012

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TIMELINE-European ministerial meetings in 2011/2012 May 23rd 2012, 16:47 Wed May 23, 2012 12:47pm EDT May 23 (Reuters) - The two-year euro zone debt crisis has led to a slew of European Union ministerial gatherings over the last year, the latest of which is due to begin in Brussels on Wednesday. Following is a look at some of the major meetings in the last year and the agreements reached: March 12, 2011 - Euro zone leaders agreed to raise the capacity of the region's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, to 440 billion euros ($600 billion) from 250 billion, but left it to finance ministers to work out how. May 16 - Euro zone finance ministers meet in Brussels. - Ministers approved a 78 billion euro bailout for Portugal but insisted that Lisbon ask private bondholders to maintain their exposure to its debt. May 17 - European Union finance ministers meet in Brussels. - Europe's top financial officials acknowledged for the first time that Greece may have to restructure its debts. June 23, 24 - Summit of EU leaders in Brussels. - Euro zone leaders endorsed the treaty setting up the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - a permanent mechanism for resolving sovereign debt crises - from mid-2013. Sept. 16, 17 - Informal meeting of ministers and central bank governors in Wroclaw, Poland. - EU finance ministers broke no new ground in dealing with the euro zone debt crisis. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made an appearance and urged Germany to provide more fiscal stimulus for the euro zone. Oct. 3 - Meeting of euro zone finance ministers, central bankers and EU commissioners in Luxembourg. - European finance ministers agreed to safeguard their banks as doubts grew about whether a planned second bailout package for Greece would go ahead. - Hours earlier, French-Belgian municipal lender Dexia became the first European bank to have to be bailed out due to the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Oct. 26-27 - Euro zone leaders strike a deal with private banks and insurers for them to accept a 50 percent loss on their Greek government bonds as part of a plan to lower Greece's debt. Agreement is reached after more than eight hours of talks. - Leaders also agree to scale up the EFSF to about 1 trillion euros and to recapitalise European banks to an estimated 106 billion euros ($147 billion). Dec. 5 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy meet in France. - They float a proposal for a euro zone "fiscal compact" to enforce budget discipline across the 17-nation bloc. They say they want any necessary treaty changes for their plans to be enacted to be agreed in March and ratified after France wraps up presidential and legislative elections in June, 2012. Dec. 8 - The ECB announced unprecedented action to support Europe's cash-starved banks with three-year liquidity tenders and easier collateral rules and cutting interest rates back to a record low 1.0 percent. - However ECB President Mario Draghi discouraged expectations that the bank would massively step up buying of government bonds if European Union leaders agree on moves towards closer fiscal union at a crucial Brussels summit. Dec. 8/9 - Crisis summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels. Sarkozy and Merkel laid out their plan to impose mandatory penalties on euro states that exceed deficit targets, to restore market trust and arrest the region's debt crisis. - Twenty-three of the 27 leaders agreed to pursue tighter integration with stricter budget rules for the single currency area, but Britain said it could not accept proposed amendments to the EU treaty after failing to secure concessions for itself. Jan. 30, 2012 - Summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels, to discuss "fiscal compact" on tighter budgetary controls and the euro zone's permanent bailout fund. Feb. 21 - Euro zone finance ministers meeting. Finance ministers and private sector representatives finalised a deal to provide 130 billion euros of new financing to Greece in return for cuts and reforms. - The deal relies on private creditors accepting a loss on the nominal value of their holdings of more than 53 percent, which would help reduce Greece's debt by 100 billion euros. March 1/2 - Summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels - the first meeting at which the euro zone debt crisis did not eclipse all else. May 23 - Summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels. - This informal meeting is expected to focus on efforts to boost growth, while balancing austerity efforts. The idea of regional bonds jointly underwritten by all euro zone member states is also expected to be discussed. New French President Francois Hollande supports the proposal but Merkel is opposed. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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