Portfolio investments in an EU country under crisis: lessons from the ICSID decision on the case 'Poštová banka, a.s. and Istrokapital SE vs. The Hellenic Republic' - the Greek PSI case

Abstract

The ICSID Tribunal's decision on the claim put forward by two financial institutions (Postova banka and Istrokapital) against the 2012 sovereign debt restructuring process initiated by the Greek Government ('the Greek PSI'), and their subsequent losses on their investments on Greek Government bonds, despite its main procedural finding ('the Tribunal has no jurisdiction over the dispute') provided a very interesting reasoning on its rationae materiae competence and its conclusions on the main issues of the case. Further to the new per se legal conclusions resulting from this case, there are institutional conclusions regarding the possibility of a more permanent debt restructuring scheme within the EU economic governance scheme, as well as political conclusions regarding the international institutional framework for FDI, taking into account that the countries involved in the case are all member states of the EU and that the EU has acquired competence on FDI after the Lisbon Treaty.