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Daily Press Summary Greece threatens bondholders with default if they do not accept write-downs The Greek debt management agency yesterday issued a press release which confirmed that it would use collective action clauses (CACs) to force any bond holders who currently refuse to participate in the voluntary restructuring to take losses on their holdings of Greek debt. The press release also issued a warning, thought to be targeted at those holding Greek debt governed by foreign law (which is not subject to the CACs), stating that Greece had not made any provisions to pay out in full those bondholders who do not accept any write-downs. Greece also denied rumours that it planned to change the deadline for taking part in the restructuring set at 8pm on Thursday. The announcement and broader concerns over the Greek deal sent markets tumbling yesterday. EUobserver reports that Greece purchased €1bn in arms from other EU countries at the same time as it negotiated its first bailout package in 2010. Il Corriere della Sera reports that the Italian Treasury yesterday announced the launch of a new four-year inflation-linked bond, which will be purchasable directly online, aiming to encourage individual investors to purchase more Italian debt. Separately, Il Sole 24 Ore reports that between 2007 and 2011, Italian tax authorities have unmasked over a million of ‘phantom’ buildings which were never registered at the cadastre. The buildings are worth a total of around €472m a year in tax revenues. Meanwhile, a new IPR Marketing poll shows that if a hypothetical ‘party of technocrats’, which would include Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and some members of his cabinet , were to stand in the next general elections in Italy, it would receive 22% of votes, reports La Repubblica. Handelsblatt reports that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said that Germany's exposure to the eurozone bailouts is €72.9bn, equal to Germany's defence, transport and healthcare spending combined. Eurostat confirmed yesterday that the eurozone contracted by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year. FT CityAM WSJ Telegraph Les Echos Les Echos2 Monde Irish Independent Times Independent La TribuneIrish Times Les Echos 3 Kathimerini Les Echos 2 Telegraph 2 Irish Independent 2 EurActiv Kathimerini 2EUobserver WSJ 2 IHT El País El País 2 Expansión Cinco Días WSJ 3 EUobserver 2 Il Sole 24 Ore blogs: Romano La Tribune 2 Les Echos 4 Monde Irish Times 2 Irish Independent 3 La Tribune 3 Irish Independent 4 Nu.nl Standaard Volkskrant Handelsblatt FTD FTD 2 Handelsblatt 2 Corriere della Sera Il Sole 24 Ore Wall Street Italia CityAM 2 FT 2 FT 3 FT: Wolf Il Sole 24 Ore 2 Repubblica Germany wants to adopt the fiscal pact and the ESM by mid-June; Bundestag to vote on both treaties on 25 May According to a draft ‘road map’ seen by German press agency DPA, the German Cabinet will today adopt the draft bill to implement the ‘fiscal treaty’ on budgetary discipline into national law, and next week they will do the same for the treaty on the ESM, the eurozone’s new permanent bailout mechanism. On March 21, the Cabinet will decide on a draft supplementary budget to allow for the financing of the ESM, to which Germany will contribute €8.7bn this year. The government is planning to have both treaties ratified and adopted by 15 June. The Bundestag is set to vote on both treaties on 25 May, although while the ESM treaty will require only a simple majority, the ‘fiscal treaty’ will require a two-thirds majority, meaning Chancellor Merkel will need the support of the opposition, who have already set out a number of conditions. In an interview withRheinische Post, the leader of the SPD’s parliamentary faction, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, again confirmed that “without a shared commitment on the part of the federal government for a financial transactions tax, I can hardly imagine that the fiscal pact will receive the necessary two-thirds majority”. DPA Handelsblatt Focus Welt Süddeutsche Welt 2 Rheinishe Post Sarkozy’s populist plea to electorate During a televised appearance on France 2 last night, Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to cut the number of immigrants entering the country from 180,000 to 100,000 per year, toughen the requirements for immigrants receiving state social support, and encourage the labelling of halal and kosher meats for consumers. Francois Hollande, Socialist frontrunner to the Presidency maintains a two point lead on Sarkozy in the first round (30% and 28% respectively), and an 11 point lead in the second (56% and 44%). Times BBC Spiegel CityAM WSJ Le Monde Les Echos Commission withdraws controversial video promoting EU enlargement Following accusations of racism, the EU Commission yesterday withdrew a controversial video promoting EU enlargement, which had cost €127,000 to make. Open Europe’s Pawel Swidlicki is quoted in theGuardian as saying: “It is strange because normally there is something of the Kum Ba Yah about the Commission. But it has produced a video which shows a white female being threatened by foreign men with weapons. This is in dubious taste and judgment”. Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel was quoted by theBBC, Belgian daily De Morgen and Romanian daily Adevarul describing the video as "very strange" and questioning whether the EU ought to be spending so much on self-promotion. BBC Guardian HLN EUobserver El Mundo De Morgen Adevarul Catherine Ashton, head of EU foreign policy, has accepted an invitation to resume International negotiations with Iran on behalf of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. BBC EUobserver IHT Welt FAZ European Voice EurActiv According to a new poll, only 26% of small businesses in Sweden are in favour of the country joining the euro. This represents a 50% fall from a year ago, and a massive drop compared to 2003, when the country voted against the single currency in a referendum. Svenska Dagbladet Bloomberg reports that the EU’s financial services commissioner, Michel Barnier, intends to impose tougher collateral requirements on repurchase agreements. These restrictions aim to stop such trades, which enable investors to sell securities with the promise of repurchasing them for a fixed price on a fixed date, and banks to juggle ultimately unsustainable levels of debt. Bloomberg In an ECJ court opinion yesterday, Advocate General Yves Bot, stated that travel freedoms do not apply to heads of state, and that Slovakia did not breach EU law by denying Laszlo Solyom, then Hungarian Prime Minister, entry into the country in 2009. EurActiv