The euro remains a bit supported in the afternoon trade, following an announcement of yet another European summit.  This meeting, however, carries with a rather optimistic undertone, with eurozone finance ministers reconvening over a finalization of the Greek debt proposal.  As a result of the good news, the euro is continuing to mull in its consolidation phase, trading at 1.3258.

Following three full days of Greek delays, Eurozone finance ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels tomorrow.  Presumably, European policymakers are expected to approve the finalized deficit reduction draft which is being submitted by interim Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.  Papademos, for his part, has been pushing through austerity and budget cuts of up to 1.5% of overall gross domestic product – a condition that European leaders were expecting before allotting the second of two bailouts to the fallen European member.  What still remains contentious among Greek politicians, however, are the cuts to minimum wage allocations and pensions.  According to current plans, the Greek administration would oversee cuts to national minimum wage levels of up to 22% – while also reducing pension disbursements.

Nonetheless, nothing is guaranteed and European leaders could as well decline on the fiscal proposal, which would likely send the Euro lower against the US dollar.  With so much positive expectation baked into the current move higher, any pessimistic news could spark an impetus for Euro exits.

A failure to make the second bailout measure work would be catastrophic for the Greek economy as the country is expected to make a 14.6 billion euro obligation on March 20th.

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