Sovereign Debt restructuring Research Papers (original) (raw)

El canje de deuda de 2005 fue la primera etapa de un largo proceso de normalización de pasivos públicos en default que culminó en 2016. Además de sentar las bases de las etapas que le siguieron, la estrategia de manejo de la deuda implementada por el gobierno de Néstor Kirchner inauguró una orientación que se continuaría hasta 2015 y sentó un precedente novedoso respecto a la política con la que los estados pueden impulsar procesos de reestructuración de deuda en el actual estadio de la globalización financiera. En este escrito presentaremos el caso, analizaremos la estrategia desarrollada por el gobierno argentino y los principales resultados de su política de manejo de la deuda en la etapa, para finalmente analizar sus particularidades y reflexionar sobre las posibilidades abiertas por el mismo para la resolución de crisis de deuda en países en desarrollo en el marco de la arquitectura financiera internacional existente.

- by
- •
- Economic Sociology, International Political Economy, Argentina, International Negotiations

В статье раскрывается проблематика недостаточности и неэффективности существующих механизмов и принципов реструктуризации суверенных долговых обязательств государств в контексте современной тенденции глобализации международного права. Особое внимание уделяется принципам деятельности и механизмам реструктуризации суверенных долгов в рамках Парижского клуба кредиторов.

En étudiant les controverses relatives aux mécanismes légitimes de régulation des faillites souveraines, cette enquête montre la capacité de résilience des instruments et des acteurs assurant la continuité d’un ordre marchand dans les domaines juridiques et financiers à l’échelle globale. À deux reprises, en 2002 à travers une initiative du Fonds monétaire international, puis en 2015 à l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies, les alternatives à la régulation par les marchés de capitaux, visant à installer un mécanisme juridique supranational, ont été disqualifiées. En s’appuyant sur une enquête auprès des acteurs et des institutions constitutives de la gouvernance économique internationale, l’article donne à voir le travail de consolidation de l’ordre marchand, et ce à quoi tient cet ordre global. Contrairement à une vision spontanée, les États ne sont pas exclusivement des « victimes » des marchés globalisés de la dette et des fonds « vautours » qui refusent les renégociations de dette et entament des procédures pour se faire rembourser intégralement. Au nom de leur attractivité financière et de leur accès aux ressources des marchés de capitaux globalisés, les départements du Trésor de différents États émergents se soumettent aux formats contractuels des places financières étrangères et concèdent une version restreinte de leurs pouvoirs souverains.

- by BENJAMIN LEMOINE and +1
- •
- International Relations, International Law, Sovereignty, Theories of the State

The year 2002 would be remembered in the European Union as the year the ‘Euro’ officially became the common legal tender of the ‘Eurozone’ comprising presently of 19 member states. Exactly seven years after, a full blown banking and sovereign debt crisis was evident in the monetary union which raised fresh financial concerns the world over after that of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. The Eurozone debt crisis that caught the international community by surprise, began with the shocking revelation on the humongous external debt hovering over Greece. Afterwards, the ballooning debt-to-GDP ratio of other peripheral states in the Euro Area - Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain surfaced thus giving rise to the acronym G.I.I.P.S in reference to the five indebted countries in the Eurozone. This paper therefore examines the sovereign debt crisis of E.U member states belonging to the Eurozone and the effect it has had on their economic growth. With Greece as the case study, the nature, causes and rescue packages so far adopted at salvaging the Eurozone debt crisis since 2009 till date were duly accounted for via an historical and empirical approach which was heavily dependent on secondary sources of quantitative data.

- by Adeleke Olumide Ogunnoiki
- •
- European Studies, Economics, International Economics, Public Finance
- by Christian Garland
- •
- Critical Theory, Business, Industrial And Labor Relations, Information Systems
- by Stavros Michalopoulos
- •
- Sovereign Debt restructuring

The collapse of the Roman heavy bronze coinage weight standards during the 3rd century BC is a well-known fact. Between the series following the Roman libra of 288 scruples’ standard (c. 323 g), assigned by M. Crawford to the years 280-270 BC, and some of the light series of the years 210-200 BC, the weight loss is over 90%. The Roman state initially experienced an obvious monetary panic as it lacked the means to fund its war effort after Trasimene and Cannae. In a matter of few years, its subsequent decisions affecting its coinage structure testify to a heightened awareness of what was at stake as far as the financial aspect of the war was concerned. Through the debasement of the bronze coinage, the recourse to a short-lived gold coinage and the establishment of a stable silver coinage, the Republic managed to raise additional resources and reduce its liabilities while improving its financial capacities. In doing so, it designed a monetary policy aimed at supporting a successful war economy.

- by GILLES F BRANSBOURG
- •
- Economic History, Political Economy, Roman Republic, Monetary history

State and local debt and the debt of quasi-public agencies have grown in importance as a result of fiscal decentralization, rapid urbanization, and the increasing role played by private capital. However, with debt comes the risk of insolvency. This book brings together the reform experience of major emerging economies and developed countries. Written by leading practitioners and experts in public finance in the context of multilevel government systems, the book examines the interaction of markets, regulators, subnational borrowers, creditors, national governments, taxpayers, ex-ante rules, and ex-post insolvency systems in the quest for subnational fiscal discipline.

This special issue is a cooperation of the Yale Journal of International Law and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It emerged from UNCTAD’s work on sovereign debt workouts, specifically from its Working Group on a Sovereign Debt Workout Mechanism (2013 to 2015). The working group developed a Roadmap and Guide for Sovereign Debt Workouts, published in 2015. It proposes an incremental approach to sovereign debt workouts that relies on the continuous, progressive development of sovereign debt restructuring practice. This work has inspired the adoption of Basic Principles for Sovereign Debt Restructuring by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. The special issue assembles papers that elaborate, reflect on, and critically scrutinize the incremental approach to sovereign debt restructuring. As the political momentum that would be necessary to adopt an international treaty governing sovereign debt workouts is currently lacking, the incremental approach explores the possibility of further developing current practice in line with legal principles that have emerged from progressive developments in debt restructuring practice in reaction to the crises of the last decades.

- by Matthias Goldmann and +3
- •
- Contract Law, International Law, Public International Law, Sovereign Debt
- by Nicolas Zeolla and +1
- •
- Developing Countries, Capital Controls, Quantitative Easing, Sovereign Debt restructuring

Using the concept of assemblage to describe the State’s modes of financing through history, this article intends to show the contribution of a Political Sociology of the Economy in order to grasp the different ways economic objects are set in institutional orders, social representations and instruments of public action. The aim is to document sociologically, for France, various mechanisms of economic policies described by the heterodox economy in terms of economic regimes, orders and modes of regulation. In the 1950s, the first assemblage set up the State as overlooking market forces, while in the second assemblage, starting in the 1980s, the State is engaged in a process of indefinite extension of the international financial markets. Finally, the sociological description of the modalities of transition from one assemblage to the other makes it possible to locate certain breaches and vanishing points and indicates the paths for future assemblages.
En mobilisant le concept d’assemblage pour saisir la façon dont l’État se finance, cet article entend montrer l’apport d’une sociologie politique de l’économie pour saisir les modes d’inscription des objets économiques dans des ordres institutionnels, représentations sociales et instruments d’action publique. Il s’agit de documenter sociologiquement, pour la France, divers dispositifs des politiques économiques décrits par l’économie hétérodoxe en termes de régimes, ordres et modes de régulation économiques. Le premier assemblage installe, à partir des années 1950, l’État en surplomb des forces de marché, alors que le second, à partir des années 1980, l’engage dans un processus d’extension indéfinie des marchés financiers internationaux. Enfin, la description sociologique des modalités de transition d’un assemblage à l’autre permet de localiser certaines brèches et points de fuite indiquant des voies pour de futurs assemblages.

- by BENJAMIN LEMOINE and +1
- •
- Public Finance, Sovereignty, Public Budgeting and Finance, Neoliberalism

The absence of a robust and equitable legal framework for Sovereign Debt Restructuring generates important costs. Sovereigns with unsustainable debt often wait too long before they seek a restructuring, which is currently not within a predictable and transparent legal regime, therefore damaging creditors and debtors alike. This paper proposes a framework to address this problem from its origins: the im-paired liquidity of the sovereign debt securities in the financial markets stemming from the uncertainty on their safe status. This was allegedly the major cause of the recent financial crises and can be resolved through a clear and predictable legal regime, which assigns responsibilities to each of the many stake-holders involved in the management of the sovereign debt from its issuance to its restructuring. By enhancing coordination and transparency between domestic and international legal regimes (based on the subsidiary principle) through international multilateral organisations, this framework would intro-duce checks and balances both at a domestic and international level to enhance the necessary account-ability and trust from all stakeholders in order to shape a safer and more sustainable financial and legal regime.

Since 2007, many investors have sought international protection against the effects of sovereign defaults, especially when States try to resolve financial distress through restructurings and, in particular, through compulsory or semi-compulsory restructurings.
After the well-known Abaclat award, other arbitrators and international courts were asked to rule on haircuts and to establish if there were any international treaties that protect investors’ properties and prevent any interference in these properties without the agreement of all the bondholders involved.
Even though many of the claims have been rejected, today investors have the right to sue States or other Supranational Institutions to demand protection of their financial properties. According to final rulings, on the one hand, the broad protection given to property rights, regulated by the general principles of law, includes also bonds issued by the States. On the other hand, the protection of private properties ends when it conflicts with some public interests.
While the protection of sovereign bondholders is controversial under 1965 Washington Convention and many BITs, the CETA allows expressly bondholders to file claims before the CETA arbitral panel to be indemnified. The CETA text is substantial because, on the one hand, it confirms that sovereign bondholders can be protected by bilateral/multilateral investment treaties as well as, on the other hand, that this protection is not absolute, but should be subordinated to some circumstances. It is interesting to discuss the rationale of these circumstances and if that CETA provision is adequate to reach an equitable balance between private and public interests.
In sum, the case law of the last ten years suggests that there is a trend to strengthen sovereign bondholders’ protection, if issuers default. But, considering that investors aren’t worthy of an absolute protection of their financial properties, the written rules should subordinate that protection to the fulfilment of several circumstances according to the general interest.

While many central banks around the world pursued quantitative easing programs in recent years responding to the weak inflation outlook, the ECB faces unique legal constraints with respect to its Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) launched in 2015. Most importantly, due to the prohibition of monetary financing enshrined in art.123 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the ECB may find itself in an – for the ECB - unprecedented position of a creditor participating in a sovereign debt restructuring and facing legal constraints in accepting any debt cut on its sovereign bond holdings. Against this backdrop, this article shines a light on the potential legal options available to the ECB, should another debt crisis in the euro area materialise. For this purpose, we will also take a closer look at two seminal judgements by European Courts, delineating the legal boundaries in which the ECB may conduct its non-standard monetary policy.

- by Sebastian Grund
- •
- European Law, EU Law, Sovereign Debt, Monetary Policy

Foreign investment is perceived as one of the most significant factors for development and it is no accident that a key criterion for determining that an activity qualifies as an investment under the ICSID Convention is whether it contributes to the economic or other development of the host state. Investment tribunals have in recent years examined both the ambit of regulatory powers of the host state in taking measures in response to an existing debt crisis, and the impact of a negotiated sovereign debt restructuring on the rights of non-cooperative creditors. In both respects, investment tribunals have not conclusively, or unanimously, linked socio-economic rights with investment protection. This chapter examines the sovereign debt-related awards of investment tribunals and suggests how the systemic integration of investment law and human rights might prevent investment arbitration from distorting economically and socially beneficial sovereign debt restructurings and other regulatory measures in the context of sovereign debt crises.

The paper sets out the legal foundations of an incremental approach to sovereign debt restructuring. As the political momentum that would be necessary to adopt an international treaty governing sovereign debt workouts is currently lacking, the incremental approach explores the possibility of further developing current practice in line with legal principles that have emerged from progressive developments in debt restructuring practice in reaction to the crises of the last decades. Key among them is the principle of sovereign debt sustainability. Debt sustainability is a global concern today. This is evidenced by significant institutional, procedural and substantive innovations in the way in which sovereign debt is treated. Among them is the generalized conviction that debt sustainability cannot come at the expense of human rights enjoyment. The rise in holdout litigation does not contradict this finding, as it has been countered by a strong policy response. The incremental approach is not only unique because it overcomes the binary structure of a debate juxtaposing statutory, institutional and contractual, market-based approaches to improve the current debt restructuring framework. Rather, the incremental approach puts law and legal theory right at the center of the debate about sovereign debt that in the last decades has been dominated by economic thinking. It thereby claims that markets, including markets for sovereign debt, must be embedded in other social fields and therefore require regulation. The incremental approach is thus opposed to the idea of markets as spontaneous orders. However, given that knowledge is limited, market regulation that proceeds continuously and in small steps does not need to be less successful in its effort to avoid crises and solve collective action problems than grand proposals for institutional design.

The idea of 'anti-vulture legislation', i.e. domestic law dealing with holdout strategies and 'vulture' litigation against a sovereign debtor in financial distress, differs radically from existing and proposed approaches to deal with sovereign debt crises, such as the contractual approach and the proposal for an international sovereign debt restructuring mechanism. Anti-vulture laws adopted in Belgium, in the United Kingdom and, more recently, in France offer an ambitious local solution to a global problem. Motivated by these developments, we investigate the actual or hypothetical advantages attached to anti-vulture legislation compared to other approaches, and we argue that legislative interventions in sovereign debt-enforcement regimes should be made cautiously with the aim of promoting timely, orderly and equitable solutions to sovereign debt crises.

"El volumen se dedica al análisis de la disciplina normativa de los Estados europeos en materia de sobreendeudamiento e insolvencia de las personas naturales, materia ésta relacionada a su vez con el vertiginoso aumento del crédito al consumo; todo ello en un momento en que gradualmente va tomando forma en Europa una especie de “Derecho concursal civil” (?), centrado en la gura del Ciudadano privado.
El ordenamiento jurídico comunitario, tanto desde una perspectiva general como desde la perspectiva singular que aportan las respectivas legislaciones de los Estados miembros, presenta cierto décit regulatorio desde la perspectiva de la mejor tutela de familias y consumidores endeudados en exceso. Esta insuciencia, tanto por sí misma como en combinación con otras disfunciones, sigue inuyendo en el colapso economico-nanciero de una Europa condicionada por una excepcional coyuntura económica cuyas dimensiones aún no son exactamente apreciables.
El volumen se propone contribuir a la identicación de las ineciencias de fondo que subyacen en el actual sistema jurídico comunitario desde la perspectiva que ofrecen los “ajustes” considerados más oportunos."

- by Dialogi europaei
- •
- European History, Eastern European Studies, European Studies, Law

Les récentes crises financières, dont la crise de dette dans la périphérie de la zone Euro, ont mis en lumière les déficiences du régime juridique actuel pour le traitement des emprunts obligataires. Il est utile et opportun de mettre en oeuvre ex ante de nouveaux mécanismes qui faciliteront la résolution ordonnée des crises financières, lorsque celles-ci se déclencheront. L'utilisation d'une nouvelle génération de clauses d'action collective (CAC) dans les emprunts souverains est une réforme importante qui suit cette logique.

Through empirical investigation of the Eurozone and Greek debt crisis 2010–12,
this article demonstrates how a peak organization of financial firms—the Institute
of International Finance (IIF)—was able to mobilize its members transnationally to
secure several key political and economic objectives. At the height of the crisis, large
European banking firms were threatened by the prospect of a disorderly Greek
default, coercive intervention by governments, and, potentially, a regional banking
collapse. In this context, representatives from the IIF entered the policymaking
process to facilitate concerted private sector action, assisting EU officials with
the negotiation of a substantial and orderly creditor writedown, and cooperating
with legal action by the Greek government to sideline a minority of financial firms
hostile to the deal. The article shows that the IIF’s disproportionate influence
over policymaking was a result of their technical expertise, their ability to recruit
individuals with long-standing experience of sovereign debt restructuring from the
public and private sector, and the operation of elite revolving-door processes. In
contrast to recent studies showing that financial actors are able to exercise more
power at the national level by remaining collectively inactive, these findings suggest
that, at the transnational level, financial actors can be most effective at securing their preferences when they are well organized and when they coordinate politically on the basis of collective interests.

- by Manolis Kalaitzake
- •
- Political Sociology, European Studies, Political Economy, Political Science

El presente artículo analiza las transformaciones de la política financiera en la Argentina durante el período 1991-2011. Para ello, se estudian las principales acciones del Estado orientadas a enfrentar la problemática de la deuda pública y el financiamiento, así como las relaciones establecidas con el sector financiero y el FMI. La evolución de la política financiera argentina resalta uno de los contrapuntos más sobresalientes entre el período de la convertibilidad vigente hasta 2001 y la etapa posterior. El régimen de convertibilidad implicó el sostenimiento de una moneda nacional sobrevaluada, la cual determinó el progresivo incremento de la deuda pública y alentó el proceso de financiarización de la economía. En cambio, el régimen de la posconvertibilidad, apoyado en el mantenimiento de un tipo de cambio competitivo junto al superávit fiscal y comercial, ha contribuido a promover la actividad productiva por sobre la financiera. Esto, junto a la reestructuración de la deuda, ha permitido sostener un proceso de reducción gradual del endeudamiento público en términos relativos, liberando recursos para fomentar el mercado interno. Consecuentemente, con posterioridad a 2002 se observa una erosión de la capacidad de condicionamiento estructural sobre la dinámica del crecimiento de los acreedores, el FMI, y el sector financiero en general, en simultáneo con la obtención de mayores grados de autonomía financiera por parte del Gobierno Nacional. Finalmente, se analizan los desafíos que impone la crisis internacional a la continuación de este sendero.

- by Pablo Nemiña
- •
- Argentina, Financialization, External Debt, Sovereign Debt restructuring
- by Giselle Datz
- •
- Argentina, Sovereign Debt, Pension Funds Mutual Funds, Pension Reform

After a long term of experiencing imbalances in the economy mainly due to the
deterioration in debt, Turkey managed to solve its structural macroeconomic problems with
the support of strong reforms, political stability and regulatory improvements regarding the
financial system after 2002. This dissertation aims to illustrate the 2003 fiscal consolidation
programme in Turkey by using Miller and Zhang’s basic dynamic fiscal consolidation model.
The basic model is used to simulate the convergence path of debt to the target for high/low
inflation and changing real interest rate scenarios. The impacts of high inflation on fiscal
consolidation have been underlined. Then, banking system regulations, macro structural
reforms and the role of Bretton Woods institutions are discussed. Furthermore, under the
light of Turkish experiences, policy recommendations are provided for the other nations that
are suffering from very high debt levels.

- by Erdem Atas
- •
- Political Institutions, World Bank, IMF, Fiscal policy

A lo largo del siglo XVIII el Ayuntamiento de Huesca tuvo que renegociar la pesada deuda que había contraído en las centurias anteriores. Mediante la firma de concordias y adiciones, los acreedores de la ciudad pasaron a controlar el patrimonio municipal. El artículo sostiene que los censales, la principal forma de crédito en la época, fueron herramientas políticas, económicas y sociales que permitieron a las élites locales oscenses participar en el gobierno de la ciudad y en la construcción del Estado. La confusión de los ámbitos privado, corporativo y público jugó un papel esencial en aquellos procesos.

Depuis quinze ans, des créanciers de l'État argentin ont initié des centaines d'actions en justice devant diverses juridictions nationales et arbitrales contre celui-ci, en raison de l'inexécution des décisions de justice l'ayant condamné à payer ses créanciers, pas participé. La divergence de solutions adoptées par les diverses juridictions saisies montre l'incohérence de soumettre ce contentieux par essence collectif et transnational à des règles de droit national ou au risque d'interprétation divergente de règles de droit international. Abstract: of creditors did not participate. The various tribunals seized in those cases rendered À l'heure où l'écriture de cette contribution s'achève, une grande partie du 1. Dès les premières lignes, le suspense est trahi, mais que le lecteur

As a result of the 2010 sovereign debt crisis and the subsequent restructuring operations, bondholders have pursued different dispute resolution strategies. Litigation before US courts has proved to be a viable option, as demonstrated by Argentine cases. State court litigation, however, is not the only available forum: in some cases, bondholders have commenced arbitration proceedings against the issuing State.
Arbitral case-law so far seemed to be consistent in concluding that the holders of sovereign bonds issued by the host State qualify as investors and thus have standing to bring investment treaty-based claims. The recent Poštová award, however, casts doubts as to whether holders of sovereign bonds qualify as investors for the purposes of international investment law.
This article illustrates the main problems revolving around the qualification of sovereign bond as investments for the purposes of international investment law. The article summarises the relevant legal framework and the solutions adopted by arbitral case-law so far. Subsequently, the contents of the Poštová decision are addressed in detail and the consequences of this decision are scrutinised.

- by Pietro Ortolani
- •
- International Law, Sovereignty, International Arbitration, Arbitration
- by Giselle Datz
- •
- Reputation (Reputation), Argentina, Sovereign Debt restructuring, Bonds Markets

I analyze the succession of two sharply contrasted regimes for sovereign debt restructuring. The first one, which reached maturity during the 1980s, was marked by the central role of the IMF, the suspension of all relationships to international law as to the initial debt contracts, and the direct pressures exercised by Western national government on debtor countries and creditor banks. Since 2000, national judges, especially New York judges, have become the final dispute resolvers in sovereign debt matter, within a discursive regime that is now entirely based on private contract law. The consequence is a major strengthening of the rights of minority investors, who have gained a unique capacity to hold out on collective agreements. Two broad themes thus structure the discussion. One is the complex relationship between the unraveling of the former debt regime and that of the post-war, Keynesian compact. The other is the place and role of the law in this story, which set the present rules at a clear distance from the earlier experience of private, bond-based international finance, before 1914.

- by Jerome Sgard
- •
- IMF, Sovereign Debt restructuring

The Green State is a cornerstone of the environmental politics scholarship as it repudiates the historical antipathy to the state from many in the green movement. Instead, its proponents endorse the pragmatic usage of state capacity and legitimacy to realise environmental protection. This article will investigate an under-theorised contradiction in the political economy of the Green State; centring upon the operationalisation of an interventionist state, moving beyond economic growth, and deference to the ceteris paribus conventions of state financing. It is argued that the three cannot co-exist harmoniously, given the ramifications of moving beyond growth for the fiscal capacity of the state. Therefore, there is a need to go further than even Eckersley does in re-politicising and challenging capitalist conventions. Specifically, Eckersley’s own critical constructivist approach is invoked to interrogate the capitalist conventions that constitute the constraints surrounding state financing, such as the de-politicised production of money and the viability of debt relations.

- by Dan Bailey
- •
- Monetary Economics, Environmental Economics, Political Economy, Political Ecology

H μελέτη επιχειρεί αξιολόγηση των κρίσιμων νομοθετικών και διοικητικών μέτρων της ελληνικής Πολιτείας σχετικά με τη συμμετοχή του ιδιωτικού τομέα στην αναδιάρθρωση του ελληνικού δημόσιου χρέους (Private Sector Involvement, 2012), με παράλληλη αναφορά στη δικαστική κρίση τους από το Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας. Η καθιέρωση μηχανισμού συλλογικής δράσης των κατόχων ομολόγων υπό ελληνικό δίκαιο με αναδρομική ισχύ, οδήγησε αναγκαστικώς, κατόπιν της αποδοχής της πρότασης του Δημοσίου από ορισμένη πλειοψηφία ομολογιούχων δανειστών, στην αντικατάσταση του συνόλου των αντίστοιχων τίτλων με τίτλους αισθητά μειωμένης ονομαστικής αξίας, διαφορετικά χαρακτηριστικά, διάρκεια, εφαρμοστέο δίκαιο, μέρος των οποίων εκδόθηκε από το Ευρωπαϊκό Ταμείο Χρηματοπιστωτικής Σταθερότητας. Υπό τα ανωτέρω δεδομένα, ο έλεγχος νομιμότητας των μέτρων λαμβάνει χώρα ιδίως από τη σκοπιά των επιβληθέντων περιορισμών των ενωσιακών ελευθεριών και των ατομικών δικαιωμάτων των επενδυτών που δεν συναίνεσαν στην αντικατάσταση. Παράλληλα, εξετάζονται κριτικά οι προϋποθέσεις που θεσπίσθηκαν για την έγκυρη λήψη σχετικής συλλογικής απόφασης των ομολογιούχων, λαμβανομένου υπόψη και του ιδιαίτερου καθεστώτος για την έκδοση και κυκλοφορία επενδυτικών τίτλων σε άυλη μορφή. Επιμέρους χαρακτηριστικά και διακρίσεις ομολογιούχων, καθώς και χρηματοοικονομικές παράμετροι του προγράμματος αναδιάρθρωσης αναδεικνύονται ως ιδιαίτερα σημαντικές, προκειμένου για τη στάθμιση των επιπτώσεων των μέτρων στα διακυβευόμενα αντίρροπα συμφέροντα. Συμπεραίνεται ότι η καταληκτική δικαιϊκή στάθμιση στην οποία οδηγήθηκε το Ανώτατο Διοικητικό Δικαστήριο, κατά πλειοψηφία, ως προς την τήρηση των υπερνομοθετικών αρχών της ισότητας και της αναλογικότητας, φαίνεται ορθή, έστω και αν όφειλε να προηγηθεί προδικαστικό ερώτημα στο Δικαστήριο της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, λόγω της διασυνοριακής διάστασης των επίδικων διαφορών. Η συμπεριφορά του Δημοσίου, μέσω άσκησης εξουσιών jure imperii, μολονότι καταρχήν αντισυμβατική, κρίνεται κατ’ εξαίρεση νόμιμη, υπό το εφαρμοστέο ελληνικό δίκαιο και κανόνες διεθνών συμβάσεων, με βάση τον επιδιωκόμενο σκοπό σοβαρής δημόσιας ωφέλειας, ιδίως ενόψει τεκμηρίωσης δίκαιης ισορροπίας μεταξύ του γενικού συμφέροντος και των θεμελιωδών ατομικών δικαιωμάτων των θιγόμενων ιδιωτών, υπό ειδικές προϋποθέσεις και λεπτομερειακές επιφυλάξεις. Η δικαιολόγηση της ως άνω αντισυμβατικής ενέργειας δεν θίγει λοιπές αστικές αξιώσεις κατά του κράτους-οφειλέτη, στο μέτρο που θεμελιώνονται σε διακριτές νομικές βάσεις και στοιχειοθετείται η αναγκαία προϋπόθεση αιτιώδους συνάφειας της αποζημίωσης.

The establishment of a European Monetary Fund (EMF) enjoys increasing academic and political support, though its advocates do not necessarily agree on the purpose and functions of such an institution. This paper aims to examine the features of the EMF that are relevant to sovereign debt restructuring, taking into consideration the discussion on the A. Krueger proposal as it was tabled 15 years ago. We argue that a European sovereign debt restructuring mechanism, following the model of the Krueger proposal, would be a feasible and useful tool in the European crisis mechanism, facilitating private sector involvement in a crisis, with all the advantages that pre-defined procedures offer compared to ad hoc solutions.

El denominado conflicto con los fondos buitres ha puesto a la Argentina en el centro de las disputas legales internacionales. Esto se debe a que por primera vez en la historia el fallo de un juez puede poner en jaque un proceso completo de reestructuración de deuda pública, sentando un precedente alarmante en materia legal internacional. Para poder entender la magnitud de este fallo es necesario analizar todo el proceso de endeudamiento de la Argentina que terminó en la cesación de pagos, la reestructuración posterior y el desarrollo del litigio con los fondos buitres. Este es el tema a desarrollar en el presente trabajo.

- by Juan Manuel Telechea
- •
- Argentina, Public Debt, Sovereign Debt restructuring, Vulture Funds
- by Christian Garland
- •
- Critical Theory, Cultural History, Economic History, Sociology

Cette étude examine la question de la protection des droits de l'homme dans le contexte d’une crise de dette publique, en faisant entendre deux points de vue opposés: a) celui des investisseurs, en particulier, des porteurs d’obligations et b) celui des citoyens de l'Etat en «faillite». Les mécanismes existants de règlement des différences ne peuvent pas garantir le rétablissement et l'indemnisation effective à une échelle massive. Lorsque l'appareil économique de l’Etat s’effondre, les notions d'intérêt public et de «salus populi suprema lex est» sont conceptuellement satisfaisantes et créent l'impression (fausse) d'un édifice juridique qui tient toujours. Mais dans le temps d’Armageddon économique, que ce soit du point de vue des porteurs d’obligations qui perdent leurs économies ou du point de vue du citoyen surtaxé et appauvri, les notions d'intérêt public et d'état de nécessité ressemblent plus à des euphémismes, un procédé pour décrire de manière moins désagréable l'annulation d’un droit. Dans des temps d'effondrement économique de l’Etat, la notion des droits de l’homme, construction juridique de toute façon, est donc désespérément dépourvue de contenu pratique

The default of the 2012 and 2030 Global Bonds during the early stages of the Alianza PAIS government in Ecuador is best understood in the context of the social conflicts that characterized the exhaustion of neoliberalism in the country and the struggle between different fractions of capital for the direction of the process of accumulation. The restructuring of external debt and the new wave of public borrowing facilitated a boost in public spending that spurred economic growth and provided a ‘fiscal pacification’ of social unrest and political instability. The movements in public debt have also been a lever for State and geopolitical repositioning that reflects a new moment in the correlation of social forces and hegemony in the world economy. In this new scenario, however, Ecuador has not overcome the structural imbalances and contradictions that underpin its external debt problematic.

- by Lorenzo Vidal
- •
- Political Economy, Development Studies, Ecuador, Applied Economics

On 2016 finished the period of contraction of the economy which started on 2008, having reduced the GDP by 26,4%.
On August of 2018, finished the third Adjustment Programme that accompanied the third loan agreement of 2015.
Main characteristics of this new period:
After 2017: annual growth rate of 2%
Return to the markets for refinancing of the debt with the issue of 4 news bonds, among them one of 10-year, which is the first one after the 2010 when Greece was excluded from bond markets
Reduction of borrowing cost for the 10year old bonds in secondary market from 3.875% (March of 2019) to 1.5% (October of 2019)

- by Leonidas Vatikiotis
- •
- Political Economy, Economic Growth, Unemployment, European Union

La reestructuración de la deuda argentina en default implementada por el gobierno de Kirchner durante 2005 fue técnica, financiera, legal y políticamente compleja. Para dar cuenta de algunos aspectos de la misma, el presente trabajo se propone abordar sus resultados atendiendo a la multiplicidad de dimensiones interrelacionadas (económico-financiera, contractual-legal y político-sistémicas), que tuvieron repercusiones sobre el derrotero posterior de la deuda y la discusión internacional sobre la arquitectura financiera de las reestructuraciones.

- by María Emilia Val
- •
- Economic Sociology, International Political Economy, Argentina, Sovereign Debt

This paper explores the potential of good faith, a well-established general principle of law, to guide debt resolution negotiations. After reviewing the criteria for the establishment of a general principle, the paper argues that debtor states and creditors are under a good faith duty to enter into negotiations in case of a crisis, and that good faith further prevents the arbitrary exercise of voting rights, as well as abusive holdout litigation.

- by Matthias Goldmann
- •
- International Law, Public International Law, Sources of Law, Sovereign Debt

This article reviews the first five years of experience with collective action clauses (CACs) for European sovereign debt, focusing on both the legal and the economic dimension. First, we present a chronology of the legislative acts to incorporate CACs in European sovereign debt contracts alongside landmark lawsuits that have challenged their viability in the context of the Greek government debt restructuring of 2012. Secondly, we find in an empirical analysis that the introduction of CACs and related lawsuits had limited effects on sovereign bond pricing, both around the time of their announcement as well as in the time since. Based on this treatment of CACs in European courts and on financial markets, we conclude that the gradual and ex ante reform approach was less risky than relying on potential ex post action.

- by Sebastian Grund
- •
- Collective Action, Sovereign Debt, Euro Area, Litigation

Five years after Greece implemented the biggest sovereign debt restructuring in history, its legal design has been vindicated by European courts and international tribunals. Bondholders have exhausted all potential legal avenues to challenge the debt workout but Greece ultimately held the upper hand. This article sheds a light on the most seminal decisions, discussing their implications for possible future restructurings of local law bonds, which continue to be prevalent in Eurozone Member States. While the retroactive insertion of Collective Action Clauses facilitated a relatively smooth Greek debt swap, governments ought to carefully study the recent jurisprudence of European courts, which set important limits to governmental interference with bondholder’s property rights. By mapping three potential future debt restructuring scenarios with post-Greece case law, this article strives to provide further clarity to both governments and creditors as regards the legal design of Private Sector Involvement in Europe.

- by Marco M. Hagemeyer
- •
- Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Global Financial Crisis, EU, Germany

Greece joined the EMU disappointingly unprepared. After EMU accession, the country failed to seek the necessary adaptation. Its economic policy was inconsistent with the economic logic and rules of the game of a monetary union. The EMU did not in itself lead to the Greek crisis. Nevertheless, the supervisory arrangements clearly failed to work. Moreover, the unfolding of the crisis was assisted by the EMU’s inherent weakness in managing asymmetric disturbances and the absence of early warning and rapid intervention mechanisms.

- by Ruchi Malhotra
- •
- Financial Economics, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Debt restructuring

The book under review seems especially relevant to the intergovernmental policy dialogues that have recently focused on how creditors and a borrowing government should vet sovereign borrowing, and how to hold the lender and borrower accountable for their decisions. The book seeks to specify under what circumstances, if any, there are limits to the legal obligation to repay a sovereign loan. While repayment is always required except in cases of sovereign insolvency, there have been exceptions to absolute repayment obligation in practice and in legal theory. This review builds on the author’s analysis of determinants of illegitimacy (which would remove the obligation to repay) in order to examine why governments in fact repay their loans, why the loss of access to credit makes repudiation of odious loans rare, and how if enforcing the obligation to repay were restricted to “responsible” lending and borrowing under internationally agreed terms, it could advance socially and environmentally sustainable development, while maintaining normal financial market activity of sovereigns. Finally, complementing a loan-by-loan approach, this paper calls for an internationally concerted process for more effectively and fairly resolving sovereign insolvencies.