Spain commits gaffe by declaring US$56 billion Greek bailout - which did not exist

Spain created hours of confusion over the future of Greece’s troubled finances yesterday by announcing that euro zone nations were negotiating a third Greek bailout of up to US$56 billion, then backtracking by saying the prospect of such a bailout is merely hypothetical.

The high-profile sequence of events began when Spain’s Economy Ministry said that its chief, Luis de Guindos, declared at a conference in the northern city of Pamplona that a new bailout for Greece could provide between 30 billion euros (HK$260 billion) and 50 billion euros.

"[Its] central scenario for Greece is a deal on the basis of the current bailout, and new conditions to be set with flexibility,” de Guindos said in comments circulated by the ministry to media outlets clearly stating that a round of negotiations were underway for a third Greek bailout.

“We’re negotiating a third bailout for Greece that will be between 30 and 50 billion euros ... Greece will not leave the euro zone,” the minister said, according to comments distributed to media outlets by his ministry. “That would not be good for Greece and for the euro zone.”

But the euro zone’s top financial official quickly denied the claim that fresh bailout talks were underway.

The bailout that de Guindos outlined “is not something that is being discussed,” said Simone Boitelle, the spokeswoman for Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is both finance minister for the Netherlands and chairman of the Eurogroup body of euro zone members of which de Guindos is a member.