![]() ![]() Seated at a large table in a seventh-floor room of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, ministers and advisers from the 17 euro zone nations haggled. The February 20 discussions had got off to a slow start. In interviews with dozens of players involved in the seven months of talks among banks, national governments, the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, Reuters has pieced together how the agreement - Greece’s second bailout - came together and how close it came to failing. What emerged was the world’s biggest debt restructuring deal, affecting some 206 billion euros of Greek government bonds, according to law firm Linklaters which acted as adviser. Schaeuble finally got what he wanted only hours before dawn on February 21 after negotiations that ran all night. The consequences for the euro area would be catastrophic. Without the private creditors - banks, insurers and investment funds - a 130 billion euro deal to save Greece from default could fall apart. Germany’s finance minister needed this last piece of the debt restructuring puzzle to fall into place. A bank employee spreads out euro notes at a bank branch in Madrid January 13, 2011. ![]()
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