EC PRESIDENT CALLS URGENT MEETING FOR TOMORROW #2

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:NOT SURE IF RIGHT THREAD.
CASH-RICH COMPANIES ARE LENDING TO CASH-STRAPED BANKS(GUARDIAN TODAY)

Is this in Euro Countries Badboy? If not it should be in U.K. thread, what kind of Companies are they?

NO IDEA.

Can you check out the Guardian? If not, just leave it here

IT ONLY GAVE AN ONE PARAGRAPH SENTENCE.
HAVE FOUND AN ARTICLE SAYING THAT COMPANIES LIKE JOHNSON AND JOHNSON,PFIZER AND PEUGEOT ARE LENDING VIA EUROCLEAR TO EUROPEAN BANKS.
USUALLY ITS THE OTHER WAY ROUND.

Badboy wrote:LETS PUT THOSE BENEFIT FRAUD STATISTICS HERE BECAUSE THEY ARE APPLICABLE TO THE GREECE/ITALY BUDGET PROBLEMS.
IN GREECE,1500 POSSIBLY MORE PEOPLE ARE RECEIVING PENSIONS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE DEAD.
OVER 1% OF PEOPLE ON ZAKYNTHOS ARE SUPPOSEDLY BLIND.
400 PEOPLE ON KALYMOS ARE SUPPOSEDLY DEPRESSED.
A DISPORITATE(SP?) OF PEOPLE IN THESSALONIKA SEEM TO BE SEVERABLY DISABLED.
THERE A SIMILIAR PROBLEM IN ITALY.
IN THEORY,THEY COULD WIPE OUT A LOT OF THE DEFICIT IN BOTH COUNTRY IF THEY SORT OUT THE BENEFIT FRAUDSTERS.

ALSO TACKLE TAX EVASION AS WELL.

I DID SOME RESEARCH ON BENEFIT FRAUD IN GREECE,A POLICEMAN INVENTED 19 CHILDREN,COLLECTED 150,000 EUROS? IN BENEFIT.

Badboy wrote:

Badboy wrote:LETS PUT THOSE BENEFIT FRAUD STATISTICS HERE BECAUSE THEY ARE APPLICABLE TO THE GREECE/ITALY BUDGET PROBLEMS.
IN GREECE,1500 POSSIBLY MORE PEOPLE ARE RECEIVING PENSIONS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE DEAD.
OVER 1% OF PEOPLE ON ZAKYNTHOS ARE SUPPOSEDLY BLIND.
400 PEOPLE ON KALYMOS ARE SUPPOSEDLY DEPRESSED.
A DISPORITATE(SP?) OF PEOPLE IN THESSALONIKA SEEM TO BE SEVERABLY DISABLED.
THERE A SIMILIAR PROBLEM IN ITALY.
IN THEORY,THEY COULD WIPE OUT A LOT OF THE DEFICIT IN BOTH COUNTRY IF THEY SORT OUT THE BENEFIT FRAUDSTERS.

ALSO TACKLE TAX EVASION AS WELL.

I DID SOME RESEARCH ON BENEFIT FRAUD IN GREECE,A POLICEMAN INVENTED 19 CHILDREN,COLLECTED 150,000 EUROS? IN BENEFIT.

Badboy, I have had to laugh about your 400 people on Kalymnos being depressed. If I lived there I would be depressed as well. I used to live on an island just north of it, never liked Kalymnos. Used to go there on the boat sometimes as it had more shops than my island but I was always pleased to get out of the place. strange island ! Mind you mine was pretty strange as well!!

looked on greeka.com
does honey and wine,rock climbing and they used to do sponge diving.

Will The ECB's Stealth QE Programme Save The Euro?

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Ed Conway

January 10, 2012 4:39 PM

• 
  
  
  Recommend post (3)
  

I argued a few months ago that by some measures, the European Central Bank is already printing money – or to put it in economically-acceptable terms, carrying out quantitative easing.
In
very simplified terms, for many months it has neither limited the
amount of nearly-free money banks can borrow from it, nor convincingly
sterilised the cash it’s injected into the system when buying government
bonds. The upshot is that the size of the central bank’s balance sheet –
a decent measure of whether it’s indulging in this newfangled and
controversial form of monetary policy – has increased in rather a
similar way to both the Bank of England and Federal Reserve’s.
This
has become even more obvious since the ECB massively expanded its
emergency lending programmes, and their generosity, last month. The
upshot of its Long-Term Refinancing Operations (LTRO) has been to cause a
sudden spike in the ECB’s balance sheet (the green line) in the past
month.

You can see what’s happened from this chart I’ve borrowed (above) from Gavyn Davies’ excellent blog (there’s
a similar but slightly out-of-date one on my blog I linked to above).
By this yardstick, the ECB has most certainly indulged in quantitative
easing – given that this typically means swelling the size of the
central bank’s balance sheet in order to pump more money into the
economy.
The big distinction between what the ECB is doing and
what the BoE and Federal Reserve are doing is that the ECB is not buying
government bonds in quite the same quantities (and some will argue that
it is sterilising those purchases, but as I argued in my previous blog
that’s not entirely the case). You can see this relative comparison in
this chart, from Fitch.

In
short, the ECB has pumped plenty of money into the system – and if what
I hear from traders is right, will pump an even more monumental amount
in at the time of the next LTRO in February. However, it has put this
money into the banking system rather than the sovereign debt market.
Unfortunately, it’s the sovereign debt market where many of the
eurozone’s problems lie: countries such as Italy are struggling to
borrow, and even the newly-replenished banks look reluctant to put their
money in countries which look increasingly dodgy.
You can see the
problem when you compare the amount Britain needs to borrow from the
market this year with what France needs. Now, Britain's deficit this
year will be bigger than France's but it is helped out by two key
factors: the first is that UK debt is far longer-dated than French debt,
meaning Britain doesn't have to return to the market for a new sluf of
debt as regularly. The second is that because the Bank of England is
absorping so much (eg the light blue bit below), the amount actually
needed to be absorbed by the market is significantly less than for
France. In fact, on this basis, the amount of appetite Britain needs
from market investors is even less than is the case for Germany.

Unlike
the Bank of England, which was given a special indemnity by HM
Treasury, the ECB has no such remit to buy up individual countries’ debt
because of solvency issues, and it’s difficult to see the circumstances
under which it could. Hence the extraordinarily complicated way it’s
tackled the crisis.
If the past few weeks are anything to go by,
the ECB’s stealth QE may have done enough to save the euro for a few
months – although it’s been quiet over Christmas and now that traders
have returned to work, we’ve seen the yields on Italian debt shooting up
above the 7% level again. Fitch’s head of ratings, David Riley, told
Sky News today that Italy will be downgraded by one or two points by the
end of this month. Whether that is the trigger for more trouble, or
merely the signal for the ECB to pump more money in, will remain to be
seen.

It didn’t take long for the
Euro to return to the defensive in the first week of 2012 as traders
returned from the holidays to find the currency bloc’s sovereign debt
crisis still unresolved and likely to be compounded as member states
move to refinance large chunks of expiring debt, over €150 billion of
which is coming due just in the first quarter. In fact, the initial
catalyst for the next leg of the selloff – a worrisome French bond sale
where yields on the country’s 2021 and 2041 paper edged higher while
bid-to-cover ratios sank compared to an auction of similar paper in
December – was relatively mild, all things considered. Still, the single
currency finished the week at the lowest level since September 2010
against the US Dollar.


Perhaps most interestingly,
the nature of the selloff seems to be evolving, with the Euro’s behavior
following a surprisingly strong US Nonfarm Payrolls reading suggesting
that bearish momentum is increasingly driven by hard fundamentals rather
than panic liquidation alone. Specifically, strong US data had
previously worked to help the single currency, stoking risk appetite
sending capital out of the safe-haven US Dollar. However, currency
market price action after it was revealed that the US economy added 200k
jobs in December rather than the expected 155k while the jobless rate
unexpectedly fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest in nearly three years,
suggested that something entirely different was clearly taking place.
Indeed, stocks fell and the greenback pushed higher while
stocks-correlated currencies declined, suggesting hopes of a firming US
recovery were no longer enough to cheer investors. Such overt pessimism
likely follows a growing appreciation for the implications of the
Eurozone fiasco for the global economy as a whole.


On one hand, the crisis
amplifies already considerable headwinds facing global growth. Soaring
European borrowing costs amid fears of a default within the currency
bloc stymie activity as individuals and businesses find it more
expensive to spend and invest. In turn, slower growth reduces regional
governments’ tax intake, making it harder to reduce deficits, stoking
already considerable sovereign solvency fears and producing a vicious
cycle. On the other, it threatens to unleash another global credit
crunch, plunging worldwide finance into an existential crisis just three
years after the 2008 debacle. In the event of a default in a large
country like Italy or Spain countless banks, funds and other
institutions would be forced to book sharp losses. For some, taking such
a hit will prove unbearable and they will be forced to go out of
business, sending ripple effects across the markets as their creditors
then face debilitating losses, and so forth. Those that remain standing
will rush to raise new capital, with banks and funds dumping assets at
fire-sale prices to meet reserve and margin requirements. This
translates into another broad-based rout across asset classes, erasing
incalculable amounts of firms’ and individuals’ wealth. It goes without
saying that such an outcome would outright crush private-sector economic
activity on a global scale, far outweighing the impact of a marginal
improvement in US performance as exemplified by Friday’s jobs report.


Selling pressure is unlikely
to let up in the week ahead. First, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy
are set to hold bilateral talks on Monday, and while the rhetoric is
sure to prove cheery, the markets are unlikely to react favorably having
seen their share of jawboning and hoping desperately for concrete
action. The European Central Bank is expected to keep rates on hold but
the focus will really be on the suspect outcome of the 3-year LTRO since
most of the funds have not made it into the banking system, and what
(if any) additional non-standard measures the bank is prepared to take.
Needless to say, continued credit expansion is essentially equivalent to
QE and beckons further Euro selling. Finally, Italy, Spain, France and
Germany are all scheduled to sell bonds, with traders keeping a close
eye on the results as a gauge of solvency fears. – IS

Yet again Euro Banks parked money overnight into the ECB...this time E485.9 Billion .....the whole idea was to give liquidity to Banks and enable them to
lend.

Italy"s budget is 4.3% of GDP

Because of the fall in the Euro there is a threat to the EU 39 Trillion Pension.

Fitch says Italy is facing a daunting task trying to fund its debt. The French threat of downgrade is unlikely

The EU crisis is of great concern to investors

THE HEAD OF FIAT SAYS IN GUARDIAN THAT EURO COULD COLLAPSE THIS YEAR.

Defence









Arms industry


Greece still splashes out billions on defence


11 January 2012
Die Zeit
Hamburg




Greek air force officers at Tanagra military airport, north of Athens.


AFP/Aris Messinis







Frigates, tanks and submarines: Greece may be
teetering on the brink, but the bite of austerity hasn’t come near its
military. And Germany is profiting from it. Excerpts.


Claas Tatje




The man who goes in and out of Greece's Defence Ministry has the
ministry’s wish list in his head: up to 60 fighter aircraft of the
Eurofighter class, for perhaps €3.9 billion. French frigates for over
€4 billion, patrol boats for €400 million.

Such is the price of the much-needed modernisation of the existing
Greek navy. But we still have to include some ammunition for the
Leopard tanks, and besides that, two American Apache helicopters need
replacing. Oh, and they would like to buy some German U-boats, for €2
billion.

What the man reveals in an Athens café sounds absurd. A state on the
edge of bankruptcy, propped up by billions of euros from the European
Union, wants to buy up armaments wholesale? The man in the café is
frequently seen in photos next to the Minister of Defence or army
generals, and he’s often on to the phone to them too.

He’s a man who knows his way around. In his own opinion, the arms
purchases currently can’t be done. But that could soon change, he says.
"If Greece gets the next tranche of the bailout in March, expected to
be €80 billion, there is a real opportunity to sign some new arms
contracts."

It’s truly incredible. Whether Greece stays in the eurozone or goes
back to the drachma will be decided this spring. On the morning when
internal matters are being spoken of so frankly in the café, doctors in
Athens hospitals are handling only emergencies, bus drivers are on
strike, schools are still short of textbooks and thousands of state
employees are demonstrating against their dismissal.

Merkel and Sarkozy ask Greece to sign new arms orders



The new austerity programme that Greece's government has announced
leaves hardly a Greek unscathed. Unless, that is, he works for the
military or for the armaments industry.

In 2010 Greece’s budget for the military was almost seven billion
euros. That is about three percent of its economic output, a figure
surpassed among NATO countries only by the United States. The Ministry
of Defence did, however, cut its arms procurement in 2011 by €500
million. But all this will mean, believes an arms trade expert, is that
future needs will be all the higher.

Among Greece's EU partners, only a few are calling publicly for the
Greek rearmament programme to stop at once and for a long time into the
future. One is Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the Greens in the
European Parliament. Europe’s hesitation, he believes, masks
well-entrenched economic interests.

The main beneficiary of the Greek armament programme in Europe turns
out to be its savings champion, Germany. According to the
just-released Rüstungsexportbericht 2010
(2010 Arms Exports Report) the Greeks are, after the Portuguese –
another state teetering on the verge of bankruptcy – the biggest
customers for German armaments.

Spanish and Greek newspapers even spread a rumour that Angela Merkel
and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reminded former Prime Minister of
Greece George Papandreou during a summit meeting at the end of October
to honour existing arms orders, and even sign new ones.

Greek military sector promises security and jobs


How does that square up? Not in the least, says defence expert
Hilmar Linnenkamp. "It is totally irresponsible, in the midst of
Greece's severe economic crisis, to bring up the the Eurofighter issue
[an order of 90 Eurofighters placed in 1999]." But it's not just about
the Eurofighter. The latest Arms Export Report reveals that in 2010
Greece imported exactly 223 howitzers and a submarine from Germany. The
total value of the arms sales was €403 million, which contributed
greatly to the explosion of Greece's public debt.

Dimitris Droutsas is one of the few Greeks who speak openly about
these figures. Until June 2011 he was Greece’s foreign minister. "We
didn’t spend so much money on defence for the fun of it," he says.
Greece’s external borders must be strengthened against the waves of
migration from North Africa and Asia, and almost daily there are
conflicts with Turkey. "As Foreign Minister I got a message every
afternoon from the Defence Department listing Turkish violations of our
airspace."

Greece has also been watching with some concern the increasing
activity of the Turkish navy in the Aegean Sea. 35 years ago, they
watched the Turks invade Cyprus. Since then, Greece has lived in a
state of anxiety. “Whether we like it or not, Greece is forced to have a
strong military.”

Greeks like Droutsas need fear no resistance from Greece’s own
population. The Greek military sector promises the people security –
and jobs. In a country with no significant industry of its own, that is
worth a great deal. German defence companies recognised this early on
and have grown tightly intertwined with Greek companies.

Current defence spending up 18.2 percent


The pressure from beyond Greece’s borders to wrap up the rearmament
programme only materialised recently, which is why the defence budget
has hardly been touched by the austerity measures overseen by the troika
of experts from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central
Bank and the EU Commission.

In 2010 the military spending budget should have been cut by only
0.2 percent of economic output, or by €457 million. That sounds like a
lot, but the same document proposed to cut back on social spending by
€1.8 billion. In 2011, according to the EU Commission, Greece was to
strive for “cutbacks in defence spending”. The Commission, though,
didn’t make it explicit.

The Greek Parliament was quick to exploit this freedom. The 2012
budget proposes cuts to the social budget of another nine percent, or
about €2 billion. The contributions to NATO, on the other hand, are
expected to rise by 50 percent, to €60 million, and current defence
spending by up to €200 million, to €1.3 billion – an increase of 18.2
percent.

And the German Federal Government’s stance? According to a
spokesman, responding to an enquiry, the German government supports
"the policy of consolidation of the Greek Prime Minister Papademos. The
government’s guiding assumption is that the Greek government will, on
its own responsibility, contemplate meaningful cuts in military
spending.” At the same time, however, the spokesperson alludes to
defaults on arms deals. “The federal government has expressed its
fundamental expectation that contracts will be fulfilled."



Translated from the German by Anton Baer

Badboy wrote:looked on greeka.com
does honey and wine,rock climbing and they used to do sponge diving.

Hello badboy, thats right, The sponges used to be their main economy but not many do it now. There is a place you can go to see what they do to the sponges after they brought them in. Then they sell you some.

Some still dive for them, at least they did when I lived nearby. You can still buy plenty there ( don't know if they buy them in now lol) but it is not their mainstay as it used to be in days gone by.

Panda wrote:
Defence









Arms industry


Greece still splashes out billions on defence


11 January 2012
Die Zeit
Hamburg




Greek air force officers at Tanagra military airport, north of Athens.


AFP/Aris Messinis







Frigates, tanks and submarines: Greece may be
teetering on the brink, but the bite of austerity hasn’t come near its
military. And Germany is profiting from it. Excerpts.


Claas Tatje




The man who goes in and out of Greece's Defence Ministry has the
ministry’s wish list in his head: up to 60 fighter aircraft of the
Eurofighter class, for perhaps €3.9 billion. French frigates for over
€4 billion, patrol boats for €400 million.

Such is the price of the much-needed modernisation of the existing
Greek navy. But we still have to include some ammunition for the
Leopard tanks, and besides that, two American Apache helicopters need
replacing. Oh, and they would like to buy some German U-boats, for €2
billion.

What the man reveals in an Athens café sounds absurd. A state on the
edge of bankruptcy, propped up by billions of euros from the European
Union, wants to buy up armaments wholesale? The man in the café is
frequently seen in photos next to the Minister of Defence or army
generals, and he’s often on to the phone to them too.

He’s a man who knows his way around. In his own opinion, the arms
purchases currently can’t be done. But that could soon change, he says.
"If Greece gets the next tranche of the bailout in March, expected to
be €80 billion, there is a real opportunity to sign some new arms
contracts."

It’s truly incredible. Whether Greece stays in the eurozone or goes
back to the drachma will be decided this spring. On the morning when
internal matters are being spoken of so frankly in the café, doctors in
Athens hospitals are handling only emergencies, bus drivers are on
strike, schools are still short of textbooks and thousands of state
employees are demonstrating against their dismissal.

Merkel and Sarkozy ask Greece to sign new arms orders



The new austerity programme that Greece's government has announced
leaves hardly a Greek unscathed. Unless, that is, he works for the
military or for the armaments industry.

In 2010 Greece’s budget for the military was almost seven billion
euros. That is about three percent of its economic output, a figure
surpassed among NATO countries only by the United States. The Ministry
of Defence did, however, cut its arms procurement in 2011 by €500
million. But all this will mean, believes an arms trade expert, is that
future needs will be all the higher.

Among Greece's EU partners, only a few are calling publicly for the
Greek rearmament programme to stop at once and for a long time into the
future. One is Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the Greens in the
European Parliament. Europe’s hesitation, he believes, masks
well-entrenched economic interests.

The main beneficiary of the Greek armament programme in Europe turns
out to be its savings champion, Germany. According to the
just-released Rüstungsexportbericht 2010
(2010 Arms Exports Report) the Greeks are, after the Portuguese –
another state teetering on the verge of bankruptcy – the biggest
customers for German armaments.

Spanish and Greek newspapers even spread a rumour that Angela Merkel
and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reminded former Prime Minister of
Greece George Papandreou during a summit meeting at the end of October
to honour existing arms orders, and even sign new ones.

Greek military sector promises security and jobs


How does that square up? Not in the least, says defence expert
Hilmar Linnenkamp. "It is totally irresponsible, in the midst of
Greece's severe economic crisis, to bring up the the Eurofighter issue
[an order of 90 Eurofighters placed in 1999]." But it's not just about
the Eurofighter. The latest Arms Export Report reveals that in 2010
Greece imported exactly 223 howitzers and a submarine from Germany. The
total value of the arms sales was €403 million, which contributed
greatly to the explosion of Greece's public debt.

Dimitris Droutsas is one of the few Greeks who speak openly about
these figures. Until June 2011 he was Greece’s foreign minister. "We
didn’t spend so much money on defence for the fun of it," he says.
Greece’s external borders must be strengthened against the waves of
migration from North Africa and Asia, and almost daily there are
conflicts with Turkey. "As Foreign Minister I got a message every
afternoon from the Defence Department listing Turkish violations of our
airspace."

Greece has also been watching with some concern the increasing
activity of the Turkish navy in the Aegean Sea. 35 years ago, they
watched the Turks invade Cyprus. Since then, Greece has lived in a
state of anxiety. “Whether we like it or not, Greece is forced to have a
strong military.”

Greeks like Droutsas need fear no resistance from Greece’s own
population. The Greek military sector promises the people security –
and jobs. In a country with no significant industry of its own, that is
worth a great deal. German defence companies recognised this early on
and have grown tightly intertwined with Greek companies.

Current defence spending up 18.2 percent


The pressure from beyond Greece’s borders to wrap up the rearmament
programme only materialised recently, which is why the defence budget
has hardly been touched by the austerity measures overseen by the troika
of experts from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central
Bank and the EU Commission.

In 2010 the military spending budget should have been cut by only
0.2 percent of economic output, or by €457 million. That sounds like a
lot, but the same document proposed to cut back on social spending by
€1.8 billion. In 2011, according to the EU Commission, Greece was to
strive for “cutbacks in defence spending”. The Commission, though,
didn’t make it explicit.

The Greek Parliament was quick to exploit this freedom. The 2012
budget proposes cuts to the social budget of another nine percent, or
about €2 billion. The contributions to NATO, on the other hand, are
expected to rise by 50 percent, to €60 million, and current defence
spending by up to €200 million, to €1.3 billion – an increase of 18.2
percent.

And the German Federal Government’s stance? According to a
spokesman, responding to an enquiry, the German government supports
"the policy of consolidation of the Greek Prime Minister Papademos. The
government’s guiding assumption is that the Greek government will, on
its own responsibility, contemplate meaningful cuts in military
spending.” At the same time, however, the spokesperson alludes to
defaults on arms deals. “The federal government has expressed its
fundamental expectation that contracts will be fulfilled."



Translated from the German by Anton Baer

HERE'S AN IDEA,WHY NOT CUT ALL DEFENCE CONTRACTS OR SIMILIAR AND SPLEND THAT MONEY ON ERADICTING RABIES FROM GREECE AND SPEND THE REMAINDER ON PROMOTING TOURISM.

Badboy. I thought that Greece was rabies free. Has there been an outbreak?

I DID READ THAT IN MAINLAND AREAS ,THEY ARE CASES OF RABID DOGS,SO THEY RECOMMEND AVOIDING DOGS.
I WILL CHECK INTERNET.

Badboy wrote:I DID READ THAT IN MAINLAND AREAS ,THEY ARE CASES OF RABID DOGS,SO THEY RECOMMEND AVOIDING DOGS.
I WILL CHECK INTERNET.

CHECKED INTERNET,GREECE IS OFFICIALLY RABIES-FREE,ALTHOUGH IT IS RECOMMENDED IF YOU ARE BITTEN ,YOU SHOULD CHECK TO SEE IF THE ANIMAL IS RABID.
THERE IS UNCERTAINLY ABOUT BATS.

Badboy wrote:

Badboy wrote:I DID READ THAT IN MAINLAND AREAS ,THEY ARE CASES OF RABID DOGS,SO THEY RECOMMEND AVOIDING DOGS.
I WILL CHECK INTERNET.

CHECKED INTERNET,GREECE IS OFFICIALLY RABIES-FREE,ALTHOUGH IT IS RECOMMENDED IF YOU ARE BITTEN ,YOU SHOULD CHECK TO SEE IF THE ANIMAL IS RABID.
THERE IS UNCERTAINLY ABOUT BATS.

Thank you for looking it up badboy

11 January 2012
Last updated at 13:34











Italy no longer a contagion risk for euro - Monti











Mr Monti said Italians had accepted austerity without lengthy political procedures


Continue reading the main story













Global Economy

• 
  What caused the eurozone crisis?
  
• 
  How will the euro crisis end?
  
• 
  Crisis jargon buster
  
• 
  Europe's four big dilemmas
  

Italian
PM Mario Monti has said his country has made painful reforms and should
no longer be seen as a "possible source of contagion for Europe".

He was speaking after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who said she had "great respect" for Italy's reforms.

Earlier, Mr Monti warned of protests against the EU and Germany if Italy's reforms went unrecognised.

He said there had been no EU concessions such as interest rate cuts.

Without "tangible successes", he predicted protests against Brussels, Germany and the European Central Bank.

Mr Monti, at the head of a government of unelected
technocrats since November, followed two other important visitors to
Berlin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday and IMF head
Christine Lagarde on Tuesday.

Ms Lagarde has now travelled to Paris to meet Mr Sarkozy.

The French and German leaders are both due to go to Rome on 20 January.

'Mature attitude'
"This was a very mature attitude by Italians, and it merits
not a reward... but a recognition by Europe that it doesn't have to fear
any more that Italy is a possible source of contagion for Europe," Mr
Monti told reporters.

Mrs Merkel said for her part: "As for the speed and substance
of these measures, I think they will strengthen Italy, will improve its
economic prospects and we have watched with great respect how quickly
they have been implemented."

In an earlier interview for Germany's Die Welt newspaper, he
stressed that Italians had accepted reforms without the lengthy
political procedures that Rome was known for.

"If Italians do not see tangible successes in the foreseeable
future for their willingness to save and reform, there will be - and
it's already looming - a protest in Italy against Europe and also
against Germany, which is seen as ringleader of EU intolerance, and
against the European Central Bank," he said.

The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says that, despite the risk
of economic collapse in Italy, Mr Monti believes he has managed to drag
his country back from the brink with a programme of spending cuts and
tax rises.

Draghi, Head of the ECB gave an interview to the Press around the World and said the new Fiscal Compact must have unambiguous wording.

Ongoing tensions keep damping economic activity

He was asked a very direct question by an outspoken German (I think) Woman suggesting these loans to Banks being deposited with the ECB means
the Banks are not lending which she presumed was the reason for the Loans at 1%. It was also suggested by her that the ECB had strayed from it"s
remit by purchasing Bonds Draghi looked a bit uncomfortable but waffled a Reply saying the money deposited at the banks was not the same as that
borrowed..........oh I believe you !!!

He said the interest rate will stay the same at 1% and that the ECB will act as Agent for the EFSF Fund to retain price stability.

Spanish and Italian Bonds sold today for a slightly lower yield while those of Portugal and France sold higher roe.

France is resigned to being downgraded, just waiting to know by how much.

Greece will have to default sayys German Lawmaker opposing Merkel.

Hungary is to borrow money from the IMF which has relieved the pressure on the Government, but there is concern regarding the President who is anti
EU.

Hungary


Brussels launches “Operation Dump Orbán”


12 January 2012
Népszabadság
Budapest




European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso president (right) with Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán in Brussels in June 2010.


AFP







By threatening Budapest with financial sanctions and
infringement proceedings if the Hungarian government fails to change its
policies on the economy and the judiciary, the EU seems to have begun a
process that would allow it to get rid of Hungary’s Prime Minister, as
it got rid of Berlusconi and Papandreou. But it won’t be that easy.


Edit Inotai




It took a year and a half for Viktor Orbán to slip to the
fringes of European politics. This poses a problem not just for
ourselves, but for Western governments, who are unsure of how to handle
their old ally.

Can the West force Viktor Orbán’s downfall? After all, they forced
out Italy's Berlusconi and Greece’s Papandreou and replaced them with
their right-hand men – technocrats from the world of finance, men more
predictable and reasonable.

The stakes were high, as there were two eurozone countries as well
as Brussels (in fact, Berlin and Paris) that feared the political and
economic uncertainty would destabilise the entire area. And so they
salvaged what could still be salvaged.

Too much pressure may backfire


But Hungary is not in the eurozone, and in the end it’s only the
Austrian banks that are worried about us – quite worried indeed.
Yesterday’s threat from the European Commission to launch infringement
proceedings against us reveals that the government’s over-vigorous
attempts to hold onto power and its unorthodox economic policy are
causing serious concern in Brussels.

The "Hungarian case”, though, is a hard nut to crack. To dismiss a
prime minister from beyond a country’s borders, when that prime
minister was elected to his national parliament with a two-thirds
majority, is no easy matter.

Moreover, the Hungarian opposition is in a shambles. Despite rumours
to the contrary, the democratic mandate is important in the member
countries of the European Union, because it’s that mandate that every
politician owes his power to.

Technocrats are called in to government only provisionally and in
cases of dire necessity. Even in the West, most politicians mistrust
the technocrats, since they have not climbed the ladder of a political
career and have received no mandate from the people. In Hungary’s case,
the EU must also weigh up the possibility that too much pressure may
backfire and put wind in the sails of Jobbik [Hungary’s far-right
party].

The groping for a solution has begun


Currently, there are probably two possible scenarios being studied
that concern us. The first – and the warning from Brussels is to be
seen in this light – is that it gives Viktor Orbán another chance to
show more flexibility on the legislation affecting the Central Bank
[which increases government control of the bank] and on the retiring of
judges [viewed as a purge of the judiciary] – and, primarily, a chance
to show that he is ready to rethink his economic policy during the
negotiations with the IMF.

Orbán will certainly not be embraced too closely, but in Europe,
political memories are short. The indignation aroused by the Austrian
Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel when in 2000 he formed a coalition
government with the Freedom Party of Jörg Haider is worth recalling.
That scandal died down and Schüssel was able to govern without further
interference until 2007.

If the political change demanded proves hard to sell, or even
impossible, for the current government, there is also a second possible
scenario: using the network of the EPP [the European People's Party,
of which Orbán’s Fidesz is a member], an effort will be made to find
someone in Fidesz who can replace the prime minister. The groping for a
solution has begun, and let there be no illusions: this really is the
ultimate nightmare scenario.








Counterpoint

Counterproductive pressure






As Hungary faces the possibility of European Union sanctions, conservative Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet compares the liberal press to Hungarian Stalinists-

...who have turned with such hatred against their homeland. It is
astonishing that these leftist journalists are happy to see our country
criticised and punished.

The paper also claims that-

... even [EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs] Ollie
Rehn is more objective than the Hungarian left, by recognising than any
EU measures against Hungary because of violations of budgetary rules
would be surprising.

In fact the Commissioner simply explained that it might seem
surprising to sanction Budapest when its deficit could be below 3% in
2011, but added that this would only be due to the nationalisation of a
private pension fund.

Nonetheless, explains Magyar Nemzet, neither the EU Commission nor the United States, which is also criticising the government of Prime Minister Victor Orbán-

... sees the boomerang effect which we are clearly feeling.
Hungarians will see the attacks on the government as attacks on the
country itself.

This view is shared by Romanian weekly Revista 22, which says that:

The greatest error of Western chancelleries would be to think that
they can act in the Orbán case as they did with Silvio Berlusconi or
Georges Papandreou. Orbán has the unconditional support of [Hungarian]
President Pal Schmitt and was elected in 2010 with over 50% of the votes
of the Hungarian people. External pressure to remove Orbán, the
repository of Hungarians' recent and historic frustrations, could lead
to consequences much more serious for the EU, the first of which could
be the rise of the far-right Jobbik party.

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Australia has avoided the global financial crisis because of its huge
natural resources like coal and iron ore. Developing economies like
China are massive customers.


It is the strong economy that persuaded the Corbett family to move from their home in Cork to Sydney last May.










Valentina Grande: Life is good in Australia





Rory and Mary Corbett, along with their two young children, had
enjoyed a holiday to Australia and knew it was somewhere they could
happily live.


As skilled workers they have been sponsored by their new employers.


Mrs Corbett said: "Even though my husband had a job, I had a job, it
was getting to the stage where there was more money going out than there
was coming in.


"And with all the austerity cuts that were happening as well,
education funds were being cut right back, hospital funding was being
cut, so we were just looking at our kids and thinking what kind of a
future have you guys got in this country."


With a huge grin on her face, Valentina Grande is serving customers
in the sunshine at the Papa Giovanni Italian restaurant opposite
Sydney's famous Bondi beach.


On a working holiday visa, she told Sky News: "In Italy there isn't
work, there isn't money, but here you can find, very easily, a job and
get good money and good tips."


Last year just one of the restaurant's employees was from Italy - now there are eight.
Every week more Italians come through the doors looking for a job.


They are mainly young, single and desperate for a positive start to
their working lives in a place they know they will be well paid.


"Life is good here," Ms Grande said. "I get paid weekly. In Italy I
was paid monthly so if the restaurant didn't make money, you could work
for a few weeks and find you don't get paid at the end. Life there is
stressful."


Professor Stephen Castles from Sydney University is an expert in global migration.


He believes the influx of workers to Australia is welcome, especially
in sectors where recruitment is difficult, but worries for the
countries they are leaving.


"It is a huge loss," he said: "They are losing the people they will
need when the economy recovers, if the economy recovers, and there may
be global competition to attract those skills. Those counties might try
and attract their citizens back."


Even in Australia the outlook is not completely sunny. Australia
exports to Europe and the USA, making it vulnerable to any serious drop
in Chinese and Indian demand for its minerals.


For now, though, it is seen by many refugees of the euro crisis as a place of opportunity and optimism.

sky news


Please contain your excitement, but in Brussels there's talk of little else (barring plans for a see-through suspended restaurant)
I've
just been reading through the latest draft of this European 'fiscal
compact', which is essentially an attempt to change the architecture of
the Eurozone.
This is the 'treaty' which the UK walked away from
after David Cameron was told there would be no safeguards for the UK's
financial services industry.
It's main aim is to enforce more
discipline in the Eurozone, with the threat of legal sanction for a
country which allows its deficits and national debt to balloon.

The
draft shows that the biggest flashpoint between the UK and the rest of
Europe hasn't been softened but given extra prominence.

The
negotiators want this pact folded into the EU framework within 5 years.
That was a subparagraph in the last draft - it's now a new article.

The UK, as one of the 27 members states would have to agree. At the moment, the UK would almost certainly wield its veto.

Other changes:

1.
fewer countries now need to agree the treaty for it to come into force
on January 1st 2013: originally 15 out of 17 countries which use the
Euro had to say yes - that's now 12.

2. an 'escape clause'
has been built in, if countries are going through a time of severe
economic crisis (can't think who that's designed to appeal to)

3.
if you want to be eligible for funds from the permanent bailout fund
(the European Stability Mechanism which is coming into force a year
earlier than planned), you must put a balanced budget 'golden rule' in
your national constitution.

This is all bound to change, but
the substance remains the same, with percentage criteria for debt and
deficits based on the six-pack.

The other big potential clash
between the UK and Europe also remains: the European Court of Justice
would be the 'big stick' to police the pact.

The UK believe no EU institutions should be involved unless all 27 member states agree.

Euro









Stability pact


“Golden Rule” doesn’t glitter anymore


13 January 2012
Presseurop









"'Golden Rule' is no longer obligatory in national constitutions",” writes Público.
According to the Lisbon daily, the enforcement of the principle of
balanced budgets in the EU member state constitutions is about to be
abandoned "although Germany is not yet totally convinced".

In spite of Berlin`s intentions, many countries – like Ireland,
Denmark or France – have invoked legal or political difficulties in
modifying their constitutions, putting ratification of the EU’s new
stability pact in doubt. The new draft treaty, the subject of
discussion among national officials in Brussels this January 12, is to
grant each country the right to decide how to proceed.

According to the Lisbon daily, new rules will be implemented on 1
January 2013. Eurozone states will not only be obliged to have
eliminated current budget deficits, but also to ensure that budgets are
balanced from then on.

We are "closer to a European consensus", writes Público in its editorial, adding that the new treaty should be approved before the end of January by all EU members, except the UK:

Things will not go exactly as the Germans wanted. A concession… was
made for the sake of the main goal, which is to have the new budget
agreement signed as soon as possible. The roadmap for the German plan
to combat the euro crisis requires speed and the new rules will be
included in permanent legislation of the member states.

Latest News.......Greeces' Creditor Banks break off talks regarding write-downs making defauly more likely.

Standard and Poors say Germany will keep its' AAA rating while France and other Countries are at risk

Euro down to E1.26 to 1$

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  Cameron In Saudi Arabia For Talks
  
  
  

Breaking News


5:25pm UK, Friday January 13, 2012







France At Risk Of Credit Rating Downgrade

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Eurozone countries are being warned of credit rating downgrades





5:25pm UK, Friday January 13, 2012



Alistair Bunkall, Sky reporter






Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is to downgrade the
credit rating of a number of Eurozone countries including France,
reports have indicated.


The euro fell on the currency markets amid the reports - the latest in the eurozone crisis - and stock markets across the world also declined.


Reports have suggested the agency will confirm the announcement after markets close in the US.


Other countries within the single market are also at risk of a downgrade by the prominent ratings agency.


Reuters columnist Peter Thal Larsen told Sky News: "If we're talking
about expectations then clearly France is what we would consider to be
most vulnerable to a potential downgrade."


A French downgrade would be significant due to the country's role as
one of the AAA guarantors of the eurozone's rescue fund, the EFSF, which
would in turn also need to be downgraded.










A potential downgrade is bad news for Nicolas Sarkozy





Germany would then become the only major AAA-rated economy underwriting the fund


This would make it more difficult to raise funds to bail out weaker countries, like Italy and Spain, if the need arose.


But Mr Larsen added that the move by Standard & Poor’s (S&P)
would not be particularly surprising, as the ratings agency had put
several eurozone countries, including Germany, on notice a few months
ago.


He said the downgrades would provide a "reality check" to the markets
that the eurozone's problems are nowhere close to being solved.


Germany and The Netherlands are among the countries not believed to be affected by a downgrade.


The announcement is particularly bad news for Nicolas Sarkozy who
faces presidential elections later this year and has staked much of his
reputation on being the man to lead France out of the crisis.


Valerie Pecresse, a French government spokeswoman, told a television
channel in the country: "France today is a safe investment, it can repay
its debt and the news concerning our deficit is better than expected."


She made no direct comment on the country’s credit rating, but French
finance minister Francois Baroin reportedly visited at President
Sarkozy's offices on Friday afternoon.


Last December, when rumours of a potential French downgrade began,
politicians in the country reacted strongly, suggesting that any
downgrade would be unjustified.


It was even suggested publically by one senior figure that Britain
should be downgraded before France because it had "as much debt, more
inflation, less growth than us and…credit is slumping".


Other Eurozone countries rumoured to be downgraded include Italy, Austria and Slovakia.

Just confirmed , France has lost it's AAA rating, Slovakia, Italy and I think Portugal are also thought to be downgraded.

What with the Euro crisi, Iran , now Mad Cow Disease has claimed 76 live and there are a possible 15,000 cases...what else is there to worry about?