Bondholders, a two-pack, and "all necessary measures" The EU's Council and Parliament agreed on the text for two-pack laws on "enhanced surveillance" of sovereign bailouts on Thursday. It should be on the books soon. So, if what happened in Greece last year was "exceptional and unique..." What's that little clause (highlighted in red) doing there? Note it comes after a provision on what should be done when a bailout is going off course. "Invite" and "voluntary" sound nice and polite; "all necessary measures" doesn't. Could it include sovereigns asking bondholders to extend maturities on their debt, for example? You could say this is old news. Portugal was told to get bondholders to roll their exposure during its bailout (though it didn't work). Meanwhile the ESM treaty already warns that "in exceptional cases an adequate and proportionate form of private sector involvement shall be considered." But as a bondholder, you'd have to be pretty dozy to say you weren't warned. Related links: The Vienna Initiative is already here - FT Alphaville (2011) Holdouts and the eurozone series - FT Alphaville