YEREVAN, August 29. /ARKA/. A spokesman for the European Commission said Thursday that there were no negotiations with Spain on an aid program that go beyond the banking-sector support the country has already requested, Eurotribune reports.
“There are no negotiations underway on any other sort of program for Spain”, Simon O’Conner, spokesman for European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, said in an email. “No request has been received from Spain for any other form of financial assistance and we are not expecting such a request any time soon”.
Three eurozone sources said on Thursday Spain was negotiating with eurozone partners over conditions for aid to bring down its borrowing costs, though the country has not made a final decision to request a bailout.
The favoured option being discussed is that the existing European rescue fund, the EFSF, would purchase Spanish debt at primary auctions while the European Central Bank would intervene in the secondary market to lower yields. No specific figure for aid has been discussed in the talks, which started several weeks ago, one of the sources told Reuters.—0-
