##inancing themselves via the ecb without impairing the soundness of eligible counterparts. the member states and the commission will mobilize all necessary resources to provide exceptional technical assistance to help greece implementing its reforms. in this environment, greece can return to a path of growth and debt sustainability, provided the reform and savings requirements of the troika to be implemented. this alliance of the international monetary fund ( imf ) and eu commission in liaison with the ecb developed a program for athens that has been calculated by senior experts. two objectives are at stake : the return to growth and the sustainability of debt. 1. greece can resume growth when its potential is released. and its potential is huge. there is a vast supply of solar and wind energy which can be exported to the energy demanding states in northern europe. moreover, greece could turn into a major transport hub between europe and asia. there are plenty of superb engineers among young greeks longing for entrepreneurial challenges. last but not least, greece is one of the most attractive places in the world for tourism of many kinds. reform and effort, however, are necessary to lift that treasure. 2. debt sustainability requires a government to be able to repay its financial obligations at some point in the future. therefore the government has to run primary surpluses in the future. these have to be sufficiently large to accommodate the cost of servicing the government ’ s debt obligations, both at present and in the future. to put this challenge into perspective, lessons can be drawn from the experience of primary budget balances in eu member states. many of which have indeed achieved significant primary surpluses over extended periods of time. several uninterrupted episodes of high annual primary surplus stand out : bis central bankers ’ speeches finland maintained an average annual primary surplus of 5. 7 percent of gdp over 11 years ( 1998 – 2008 ) ; belgium sustained one at 5. 4 percent of gdp over 11 years ( 1994 – 2004 ) ; the average primary surplus for denmark was 5. 3 percent of gdp over 26 years ( 1983 – 2008 ) ; italy managed to generate an average primary surplus of 5. 1 percent of gdp over six years ( 1995 – 2000 ). overall, ten eu member states ( belgium, bulgaria, denmark, ireland, spain, italy, luxembourg, netherlands, finland and sweden ) recorded uninterrupted episodes of primary surplus for ten or more years, the lowest average annual surplus per episode being 1. 6 percent of gdp. in cumulative

in europe was fragmented. national bodies which supposed to supervise cross - border banks had no effective tools to resolve conflicts. the eu level financial services committees could only give advice and issue nonbinding guidelines and recommendations. the new consolidated supervisory framework, in place since the beginning of this year, reflects the single market in financial services : the european supervisory authorities ( esas ) are three authorities created for the european banking sector ( eba ), insurance and occupational pensions ( eiopa ), and capital markets ( esma ) the european systemic risk board ( esrb ) is developing the tools necessary to warn and, if appropriate, make recommendations concerning systemic risk. the esrb constitutes the macro - prudential complement. it is chaired by the president of the ecb. 2. reform of the stability and growth pact the stability and growth pact ( sgp ) will be reformed to improve the surveillance of national fiscal policies and apply enforcement measures at an early stage to ensure fiscal sustainable : less room for discretionary decisions and more “ automaticity ” in the application of the preventive and corrective arm of the stability and growth pact ( burden of proof ) rapid strengthening of national fiscal rules – to facilitate implementation of the stability and growth pact clearer rules for the reduction of debt, especially in euro area countries earlier application of financial sanctions 3. improved economic surveillance in europe the implementation of sound macroeconomic policies is the best insurance. a new macroeconomic surveillance framework will be established to check deviant behavior at an early stage, thus preventing fiscal imbalances before they emerge. surveillance of competitive indicators is of the essence : new framework for the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances early warning indicators and economic analysis of countries to identify where imbalances might emerge, the european council may make appropriate policy recommendations to the country. if serious macroeconomic imbalances are identified, the affected country must submit a plan to implement the recommendations. the application of such a plan will be monitored possible financial penalties in case of serious macroeconomic imbalances and lack of implementation of the recommendations 4. crisis management prudence and prevention are important. yet another crisis cannot be excluded for good. therefore, a permanent crisis management facility has been agreed upon, that builds on the bis central bankers ’ speeches ad hoc stability facilities established in 2010 to dampen contagion and preserve financial stability. current crisis mechanisms – the eu countries and the imf granted greece financial assistance of 110 billion euros. – european financial stability facility ( efs