ALJAZEERA: …The launch of the 500-bn-euro ($650bn) ESM – immediately given an ‘AAA’ rating by credit giant Fitch – “marks an historic milestone in shaping the future of monetary union,” Luxembourg Prime Minister and fund chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Juncker spoke after the inaugural meeting of the ESM’s board, made up of the finance ministers from the 17 countries that share the currency. The ministers then went into talks on Greece and Spain….
Antonis Samaras, the Greek prime minister, on Friday said that his country could not take more bitter medicine. If its next aid installment of 31.5-bn-euros ($40.6bn) did not arrive soon, by November state coffers would be empty, he said… (more)
