A key representative of the private Greek debt holders who agreed to erase part of the country’s huge debt called Wednesday on other countries to avoid the Greek example and instead honour their commitments.
“Don’t do it again, please, in the official sector,” Jean Lemierre of French BNP Paribas bank told a conference in Copenhagen hosted by the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the global banking lobby.
“Once is enough,” he said with a smile as he wrapped up a round table discussion, stressing that Greece’s actions “should not be a lesson for the future.”
“Stick to your word, stick you commitments, and pay back the creditors,” he said, and was rewarded with the audience’s applause.
Negotiations between Greece and creditors from July 2011 to January 2012 allowed the crisis-hit country to write off about 105 billion of the 206 billion euros ($257 billion) in debt the state owed private creditors.
Lemierre, who headed those negotiations alongside IIF chief Charles Dallara, said Wednesday that one lesson to be drawn from the Greek saga was that “negotiation is back.”
Previously, he said, many states seemed to be of the opinion that there should not be negotiations and simply sought to impose their decisions on creditors.
“I’m very grateful to the heads of state in Europe (for having) promoted a negotiated solution,” Lemierre said, adding: “We are not happy about the haircut at the end of the day, of course, but negotiation has great value.”
The good thing about negotiating, he said, was that everyone had a chance to prepare themselves for the conclusion of the talks.
“It is very crucial when you have a process to understand what is going to happen, otherwise you have a systemic crisis,” he stressed, adding: “I hope in the future we shall stick to that principle of negotiation. This is key.”
Before becoming an advisor to BNP Paribas’s president, Baudouin Prot, Lemierre was head of the Paris Club, an informal group of private creditors who negotiate with countries in trouble.
Copenhagen, June 6, 2012 (AFP)
