SMP/ANFA profits for the years 2012-2016
27.6.2018
Question for written answer E-003535-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Nikolaos Chountis (GUE/NGL)
The Eurogroup’s decision on 22 June 2018 refers to the use of the profits from the SMP/ANFA bonds for the years from 2017 onwards, as well as the profits from the ECB’s SMP bonds for the year 2014, as a medium-term upfront measure for the Greek debt.
Based on the replies from the Commission[1] and the President of the ECB[2] to my earlier questions regarding the amounts that have ultimately been returned to Greece from the excessive profits from the SMP/ANFA bonds, we may reach the conclusion that the Eurosystem and, by extension, the Member States, to which part of the excessive profits were returned as dividends, had a profit of approximately EUR 6.2 billion for the years 2012-2016.
More specifically, of the total profit of EUR 10.5 billion that the Greek bonds created for their holders in 2012-2016, only EUR 4.3 billion were returned to the Greek budget.
Given that:
- a)the aforementioned amounts of EUR 6.2 billion pertain to profits that the Eurosystem and Greece’s European creditors made from interest and capital gains, and;
- b)that, post-2018, the EU will implement fiscal measures in Greece equal to 2% of the GDP, through cuts in pensions and reducing the tax-free income threshold, the Commission is asked:
Will pensions be cut and will the tax-free income threshold be reduced post-2018 while the ECB and national central banks withhold excessive profits of EUR 6.2 billion from the SMP/ANFA bonds?