Spanish Minister tells Crowd Spain doesn’t need a bailout

The response from the crowd gathered at the London School of Economics was the most logical to that statement. They laughed.

Luis de Guindos took to the stage at the London School of Economics (LSE) and became an unexpected comic figure on Thursday evening.

“Spain doesn’t need a bailout at all,” de Guindos said, straight faced and somber, as mirth spread throughout the audience — even de Guindos’ assistant interpreter couldn’t mask a smile.

Not to be perturbed by the disbelieving audience, whose giggles audibly spread throughout the room, de Guindos said that Madrid’s reform program was sufficient to stave off a full sovereign bailout and that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) bond-buying program would suffice to help Spain recover.

“What we have is a proposal from the European Central Bank to trigger intervention in the secondary market with certain conditions,” he said. “They have demanded that in order to intervene … they want certain conditionality.”

De Guindos, speaking in broken but clear English, said that Spain supported the ECB’s bond-buying scheme and that there was a distinction between Spain seeking a full bailout that would be overseen by the troika (the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund) and accepting the enhanced credit line that the ECB is offering through bond buying, called the Outright Monetary Transactions.

De Guindos stated that as well as the ECB’s actions it was important that “the commitment of European institutions for the future of the euro” was demonstrated in the form of a commitment to fiscal union.

via CNBC

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