European Commission Proposes €7 Billion Bridging Loan For Greece

The European Commission has proposed making a bridging loan of 7 billion euros ($7.71 billion) to Greece, to help it make payments due to the European Central Bank in July. "In the absence of a better solution, [the European Commission] has proposed to the Council to grant short-term emergency assistance to Greece from the EFSM," Valdis Dombrovskis, the commission's vice president for the euro, said Wednesday, in a post to Twitter. The loan from the European Financial Stability Mechanism would be paid in a single installment and have a maximum maturity of three months, according to the proposal. The bridging funding, which is dependent on Athens adopting agreed reforms, would be later repaid from the European Stability Mechanism, once a bailout program is in place. The proposal to use EFSM will go before all 28 EU member states for discussion and the decision made by the Council of Ministers, Dombrovskis said.