Britain boycotts new bailout for Greece
Britain has been exempted from participating in any new rescue package for Greece after arguing that the burden of a second bailout for the debt-ridden country should be borne by euro zone states.
At a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday, Britain?s Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly won a fight with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to keep Britain out of a new bailout, which is expected to exceed the 110 billion euros in loans pledged to Greece in an initial rescue package last year.
Germany had wanted to use money from the European Financial Stability Mechanism to bail out Greece. Although Britain is a contributor and has no veto on how its portion of 12 billion euros is used, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy announced that the mechanism would ?not be part of the package.?
A statement issued by European leaders in Brussels following a first session of talks on Thursday confirmed that any rescue would be provided by Greece’s ?euro partners and the International Monetary Fund,? signaling that Britain would be exempted.
Earlier, Cameron had reiterated his refusal to take part in the latest Greek bailout except through Britain’s contributions to the International Monetary Fund, which joined the European Commission and European Central Bank in extending last year’s 110-billion-euro rescue package to Greece.
“This is the right outcome for the British taxpayer,» The Guardian quoted a Downing Street source as saying.
