New EC Thread
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 25 Feb - 19:36
Breaking news , Berlesconi has won for the Upper House but it is a hung Parliament for the Lower House which means another Election. Reporter says
it is a sign that Italians have had enough of Merkel and her austerity demands and as the 3rd biggest Country in the Eurozone again puts the Euro in jeopardy .
it is a sign that Italians have had enough of Merkel and her austerity demands and as the 3rd biggest Country in the Eurozone again puts the Euro in jeopardy .
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Mon 25 Feb - 20:25
The quicker the whole rotten edifice collapses the better.Panda wrote:Breaking news , Berlesconi has won for the Upper House but it is a hung Parliament for the Lower House which means another Election. Reporter says
it is a sign that Italians have had enough of Merkel and her austerity demands and as the 3rd biggest Country in the Eurozone again puts the Euro in jeopardy .
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 26 Feb - 7:11
Italy Election: Split Vote Leads To Stalemate
Italy heads for political stalemate after elections in
which the real winner looks likely to be an anti-austerity protest party.
6:59am UK,
Tuesday 26 February 2013
Video: Analysts suggest a possible
return to a grand coalition agreement
Enlarge
Italy heads for political stalemate after elections in
which the real winner looks likely to be an anti-austerity protest party.
6:59am UK,
Tuesday 26 February 2013
Video: Analysts suggest a possible
return to a grand coalition agreement
Enlarge
[email=?subject=Shared from Sky News: Italy%20Election%3A%20Split%20Vote%20Leads%20To%20Stalemate&body=Shared from Sky News:
Results in crucial elections in Italy show no clear winner and
raise the possibility of a hung parliament.
The uncertainty does not help the nation's efforts to pass the tough reforms
it needs to heal its economic woes and prevent a new round of global financial
turmoil.
In the lower chamber of parliament, the Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi
Bersani and his leftist coalition scraped a razor-thin victory over Silvio
Berlusconi's centre-right, winning by 29.55% to 29.18% with 99.9% of the ballots
counted.
Grillo: his protest group M5S appears the real
winner
But in the 305-seat Senate, preliminary results from the interior ministry
showed that the coalition led by former Prime Minister Mr Berlusconi could win
110 seats to the left's 97 seats, with neither group winning a majority, which
is required in both chambers of parliament to form a government.
This leaves Italy in a state of limbo with a hung parliament that is
unprecedented in its post-war history.
Bersani: narrow victory for his leftist
coalition in the lower chamber
"It is clear to everyone that this is a very delicate situation for the
country," Mr Luigi Bersani said.
US stocks closed sharply lower with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down
1.55% on the news. Stocks in Tokyo opened 1.83% lower.
The new Five Star Movement (M5S) led by former comedian-turned activist Beppe
Grillo, who has stirred anger at politicians and budget cuts, became the
country's third political force, creating dozens of new lawmakers.
Comparing single parties without coalitions, the M5S is now the biggest party
in the lower house with 25.55% to the Democratic Party's 25.41% - a shock
success that analysts predicted would reverberate around an austerity-weary
Europe.
"This is fantastic! We will be an extraordinary force!" Mr Grillo said on his
website, warning mainstream politicians they would "only last a few more
months".
"We'll have 110 people in parliament and we'll be millions
outside."
Berlusconi: doing better in the
Senate
European capitals fear the lack of a clear winner could bring fresh
instability to the eurozone's third largest economy after Germany and France and
plunge it back into the debt crisis storm.
Some Democratic Party officials suggested fresh elections may have to be held
within a few months after a reform of Italy's complex electoral laws. Others
said some form of agreement could be found with the anti-austerity Five Star
Movement.
Political analysts suggested a possible return to the grand coalition
agreement between right and left seen over the past 18 months, or even
dissolving the Senate alone to hold fresh elections for only one chamber of
parliament.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 26 Feb - 14:12
Cyprus: Now is the time for action
25 February 2013O Phileleftheros Nicosia
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New president Nikos Anastasiades celebrates his victory in Nicosia on February 24
AFP
Voted in by a clear majority on February 24, the new Cypriot president, conservative Nikos Anastasiades, faces the main task of restoring the island’s economic fortunes. And he has no time to lose, warns O Phileleftheros.
O Phileleftheros The new president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades, has been elected with a clear mandate. The instructions are simple: he must establish a framework to overcome the crisis. This is a major challenge both for the president and for our country.
It is clear that given the difficult context, there can be no room for party political aspirations in the effort that is required. Cyprus cannot allow itself the luxury of endless debate and soul searching that would delay the return of growth. The country needs decisions, solutions, and effective politics.
Cyprus also has the problem of the occupation of the north of the island, which has been controlled by Turkey since 1974]. Managing the problem of the division of our country in the current context will be more difficult. Some will attempt to take advantage of the economic crisis to gain leverage to obtain concessions. He must be ready to respond to this challenge.
In electing Nikos Anastasiadis, our citizens have chosen a new path. The difficult times faced by Cyprus will require consensus and unity. Everyone will be judged by his decisions, his attitudes and his general behaviour.
25 February 2013O Phileleftheros Nicosia
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New president Nikos Anastasiades celebrates his victory in Nicosia on February 24AFP
Voted in by a clear majority on February 24, the new Cypriot president, conservative Nikos Anastasiades, faces the main task of restoring the island’s economic fortunes. And he has no time to lose, warns O Phileleftheros.
O Phileleftheros The new president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades, has been elected with a clear mandate. The instructions are simple: he must establish a framework to overcome the crisis. This is a major challenge both for the president and for our country.
It is clear that given the difficult context, there can be no room for party political aspirations in the effort that is required. Cyprus cannot allow itself the luxury of endless debate and soul searching that would delay the return of growth. The country needs decisions, solutions, and effective politics.
Cyprus also has the problem of the occupation of the north of the island, which has been controlled by Turkey since 1974]. Managing the problem of the division of our country in the current context will be more difficult. Some will attempt to take advantage of the economic crisis to gain leverage to obtain concessions. He must be ready to respond to this challenge.
In electing Nikos Anastasiadis, our citizens have chosen a new path. The difficult times faced by Cyprus will require consensus and unity. Everyone will be judged by his decisions, his attitudes and his general behaviour.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 26 Feb - 17:52
Italy: And the winner is... Beppe Grillo
26 February 2013La Stampa Turin
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Glez
By bringing together the many Italians disillusioned by old-style politics, former comedian Beppe Grillo has robbed the coalition of the left, under Pier Luigi Bersani, of what was looking like certain victory. Italy will now have to reckon with a new player who is as indispensable as he is unpredictable.
Massimo Gramellini
The clear outcome of these elections is that Beppe Grillo has won. And that's an understatement. In a mass uprising at the polls against the elite, at least one in four voters ticked the box for the bearded comic, often without having the courtesy to tell the pollsters, who are also considered part of the elite. Not everything can be reduced to a question of gut feelings, even if the grumbling does come from something more than empty stomachs.
Feelings are running high here, and they are not merely resentments. There is a desperate hope that the parliamentarians of the Five Star Movement [Grillo's party] are different, that they won't be out to line their pockets, and that – most importantly – they will listen, which the others had stopped doing long ago.
It is as if there had come, from a thousand offices, the cries of a thousand solitudes, bound together by computer cables. A virtual emotion that, over time, turned into a protest gathering of individuals who feel misunderstood and shunted into the gloomy shadows of interest groups that have fallen deaf to them: the caste of politicians, journalists, bankers, string-pullers.
Each member of the Grillo community has a history and a different kind of defeat: has lost a job or never found one, or lost confidence in the future, in the state and in the bodies that stand between them, like the political parties and the unions. They do not hate politics, only those who have held onto their job far too long, without having the competence or the moral authority for it.
Grillo’s ‘Vaffanculo’
A vacuum of attention gathered around these despairing souls, and Grillo has filled it. At first with a rude Vaffanculo [Up yours], and then with a series of concrete proposals and a good dose of utopia. He sketched landscapes that everyone could colour as they pleased. In its social composition, his movement is a franchise: in Turin, he has attracted the alternative types who want to bring down capitalism; in Bergamo, the SME owners in trouble with the IRS; in Palermo, the desperate and those who are allergic to all forms of public or private oppression. Where there is a malaise, Grillo has provided a format and a face – his own.
The professional politicians have failed, or may not be able, to offer an alternative. It would have been enough to come up with a dignified self-reform of the system, a few cuts in costs and in the number of parliamentarians, an electoral campaign that spoke not about figures but about the environment, life, the future. Instead, lost in their own world, they reeled off cold figures, discussed Merkel and muttered in baffling metaphors.
Down here on the ground, only an old impresario was left standing, pockets full of free tickets to the world of dreams, and a ham who has studied the Berlusconi mechanism of seduction so well that he has managed to perfect it. Grillo has chosen the language of the spectacle – the only show that, after 20 years of vacuum, the Italians understand.
But he chose to use it to say serious things, helped along by his popularity, his energy and even his flaws. Even the listing of unknown candidates and candidates not altogether representative of the population proved a strong point. If, among the many names of new politicians put forward, the only one that wasn't there was his own, it was also because – unlike the outgoing head of government, the technician Mario Monti and former judge Antonio Ingroia – he had not stuffed the Five Star list with pseudo-personalities, cold technocrats and dusty notables.
Five Star everyman
Future historians will find everyone among the ranks of Grillo supporters: from the pragmatic dreamer to the perpetual victim. But among the many last-minute voters there is, I believe, a merger of two seemingly opposed frames of mind. On the one hand, the passionate desire to bring down the system in the hope that new leadership may emerge from the ruins of the different castes. On the other, the rational calculation that sending to Parliament a group of outsiders with keen eyesight will help to keep a close eye on the schemers in the halls of power.
And now? The movement of reliable watchmen is so new that it is still a mystery even to those that voted for it. Is Grillo the absolute master of this team, or is he merely the referee who blows the whistle and hands out the red cards? Will the parliamentarians take orders from him, or, as they assure in chorus, strictly from their followers on the Internet, to whom they will submit every proposal, from the make-up of an unlikely coalition to the naming of the next head of state?
The only really stupid question is whether Five Star voters are politically right or left. Grillo did not take votes away from the other parties. He was limited to picking up the ones they dropped. Next time, there may be a lot more of them.
26 February 2013La Stampa Turin
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- Comment25
GlezBy bringing together the many Italians disillusioned by old-style politics, former comedian Beppe Grillo has robbed the coalition of the left, under Pier Luigi Bersani, of what was looking like certain victory. Italy will now have to reckon with a new player who is as indispensable as he is unpredictable.
Massimo Gramellini
The clear outcome of these elections is that Beppe Grillo has won. And that's an understatement. In a mass uprising at the polls against the elite, at least one in four voters ticked the box for the bearded comic, often without having the courtesy to tell the pollsters, who are also considered part of the elite. Not everything can be reduced to a question of gut feelings, even if the grumbling does come from something more than empty stomachs.Feelings are running high here, and they are not merely resentments. There is a desperate hope that the parliamentarians of the Five Star Movement [Grillo's party] are different, that they won't be out to line their pockets, and that – most importantly – they will listen, which the others had stopped doing long ago.
It is as if there had come, from a thousand offices, the cries of a thousand solitudes, bound together by computer cables. A virtual emotion that, over time, turned into a protest gathering of individuals who feel misunderstood and shunted into the gloomy shadows of interest groups that have fallen deaf to them: the caste of politicians, journalists, bankers, string-pullers.
Each member of the Grillo community has a history and a different kind of defeat: has lost a job or never found one, or lost confidence in the future, in the state and in the bodies that stand between them, like the political parties and the unions. They do not hate politics, only those who have held onto their job far too long, without having the competence or the moral authority for it.
Grillo’s ‘Vaffanculo’
A vacuum of attention gathered around these despairing souls, and Grillo has filled it. At first with a rude Vaffanculo [Up yours], and then with a series of concrete proposals and a good dose of utopia. He sketched landscapes that everyone could colour as they pleased. In its social composition, his movement is a franchise: in Turin, he has attracted the alternative types who want to bring down capitalism; in Bergamo, the SME owners in trouble with the IRS; in Palermo, the desperate and those who are allergic to all forms of public or private oppression. Where there is a malaise, Grillo has provided a format and a face – his own.
The professional politicians have failed, or may not be able, to offer an alternative. It would have been enough to come up with a dignified self-reform of the system, a few cuts in costs and in the number of parliamentarians, an electoral campaign that spoke not about figures but about the environment, life, the future. Instead, lost in their own world, they reeled off cold figures, discussed Merkel and muttered in baffling metaphors.
Down here on the ground, only an old impresario was left standing, pockets full of free tickets to the world of dreams, and a ham who has studied the Berlusconi mechanism of seduction so well that he has managed to perfect it. Grillo has chosen the language of the spectacle – the only show that, after 20 years of vacuum, the Italians understand.
But he chose to use it to say serious things, helped along by his popularity, his energy and even his flaws. Even the listing of unknown candidates and candidates not altogether representative of the population proved a strong point. If, among the many names of new politicians put forward, the only one that wasn't there was his own, it was also because – unlike the outgoing head of government, the technician Mario Monti and former judge Antonio Ingroia – he had not stuffed the Five Star list with pseudo-personalities, cold technocrats and dusty notables.
Five Star everyman
Future historians will find everyone among the ranks of Grillo supporters: from the pragmatic dreamer to the perpetual victim. But among the many last-minute voters there is, I believe, a merger of two seemingly opposed frames of mind. On the one hand, the passionate desire to bring down the system in the hope that new leadership may emerge from the ruins of the different castes. On the other, the rational calculation that sending to Parliament a group of outsiders with keen eyesight will help to keep a close eye on the schemers in the halls of power.
And now? The movement of reliable watchmen is so new that it is still a mystery even to those that voted for it. Is Grillo the absolute master of this team, or is he merely the referee who blows the whistle and hands out the red cards? Will the parliamentarians take orders from him, or, as they assure in chorus, strictly from their followers on the Internet, to whom they will submit every proposal, from the make-up of an unlikely coalition to the naming of the next head of state?
The only really stupid question is whether Five Star voters are politically right or left. Grillo did not take votes away from the other parties. He was limited to picking up the ones they dropped. Next time, there may be a lot more of them.
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EU ministers back fish dumping ban
Panda Wed 27 Feb - 7:13
27 February 2013 Last updated at 06:56
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73
EU ministers back fish dumping ban
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst
The decision comes after a long
campaign that won big public backing
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
European Union fisheries ministers
have agreed to phase out the controversial practice of dumping unwanted
fish.
After a tense all-night meeting, ministers said a ban on "discards" should be
phased in, starting in January 2014 for certain types of fish.
Ministers agreed some exemptions to the ban - but the European Parliament may
still refuse to accept them.
It is a victory for campaigners who have demanded the end of a practice that
has brought the EU into disrepute.
The UN says Europe has the world's worst record of throwing away fish. Almost
a quarter of all catches go back overboard dead because they are not the fish
the crews intended to catch.
'Historic moment'
The decision reached early on Wednesday morning was driven by northern
European nations, including the UK.
They prevailed over mainly Mediterranean countries, which were fighting to
protect the interests of their fishermen.
The ban will apply to pelagic stocks like herring and whiting from next year,
and to white fish stocks from January 2016.
How a UK trial uses CCTV on fishing boats to crack down on
discards
Spain, France and Portugal managed to cling on to some restricted exemptions,
particularly relating to crews operating far from land in mixed fisheries where
the cost of landing unwanted fish is deemed to be prohibitive.
These crews will be allowed to discard 9%, shrinking to 7%. This figure is
too high for the northern nations and the European Commission, which say the
public expects that in a hungry world no fish should be thrown away.
Details of how exactly the discards ban will work in practice with the quota
system or its projected replacement will be debated later.
The British government, one of the campaigners for change, said it was
disappointed that the ban was not absolute, but that last night’s result was an
historic victory to end a "scandalous" policy.
It is one instance in which mass public pressure has clearly influenced the
politicians, with almost a million people on the Online campaign site Avaaz
demanding an end to discards.
UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said: “This is a historic moment in
reforming the broken Common Fisheries Policy. The scandal of discards has gone
on for too long.
“I am disappointed that some of the measures required to put this ban into
place are no longer as ambitious as I had hoped but it’s a price I am willing to
accept if it means we can get the other details right.
“The result we have achieved today is another step in the right direction and
will prove to be good for both fishermen and the marine environment.”
The deal builds on a recent commitment to fish sustainably, and to allow more
regional decision making. Many crucial details are still to be resolved over
exactly what sustainably means, how the policy is enforced, how fishing crews
are supported and how they are helped to buy gear that fishes more
selectively.
Share this page
Share
this page
73
EU ministers back fish dumping ban
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst
The decision comes after a long campaign that won big public backing
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
European Union fisheries ministers
have agreed to phase out the controversial practice of dumping unwanted
fish.
After a tense all-night meeting, ministers said a ban on "discards" should be
phased in, starting in January 2014 for certain types of fish.
Ministers agreed some exemptions to the ban - but the European Parliament may
still refuse to accept them.
It is a victory for campaigners who have demanded the end of a practice that
has brought the EU into disrepute.
The UN says Europe has the world's worst record of throwing away fish. Almost
a quarter of all catches go back overboard dead because they are not the fish
the crews intended to catch.
'Historic moment'
The decision reached early on Wednesday morning was driven by northern
European nations, including the UK.
They prevailed over mainly Mediterranean countries, which were fighting to
protect the interests of their fishermen.
The ban will apply to pelagic stocks like herring and whiting from next year,
and to white fish stocks from January 2016.
How a UK trial uses CCTV on fishing boats to crack down on
discards
Spain, France and Portugal managed to cling on to some restricted exemptions,
particularly relating to crews operating far from land in mixed fisheries where
the cost of landing unwanted fish is deemed to be prohibitive.
These crews will be allowed to discard 9%, shrinking to 7%. This figure is
too high for the northern nations and the European Commission, which say the
public expects that in a hungry world no fish should be thrown away.
Details of how exactly the discards ban will work in practice with the quota
system or its projected replacement will be debated later.
The British government, one of the campaigners for change, said it was
disappointed that the ban was not absolute, but that last night’s result was an
historic victory to end a "scandalous" policy.
It is one instance in which mass public pressure has clearly influenced the
politicians, with almost a million people on the Online campaign site Avaaz
demanding an end to discards.
UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said: “This is a historic moment in
reforming the broken Common Fisheries Policy. The scandal of discards has gone
on for too long.
“I am disappointed that some of the measures required to put this ban into
place are no longer as ambitious as I had hoped but it’s a price I am willing to
accept if it means we can get the other details right.
“The result we have achieved today is another step in the right direction and
will prove to be good for both fishermen and the marine environment.”
The deal builds on a recent commitment to fish sustainably, and to allow more
regional decision making. Many crucial details are still to be resolved over
exactly what sustainably means, how the policy is enforced, how fishing crews
are supported and how they are helped to buy gear that fishes more
selectively.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 27 Feb - 10:48
Monti Government Mulls Delaying Monte Paschi Bailout
By Elisa Martinuzzi & Sonia Sirletti - Feb 27, 2013 10:30 AM GMT
Mario Monti’s caretaker government is considering postponing a 3.9 billion-euro ($5.1 billion) bailout for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, leaving the final decision on the payout to the next government, two people familiar with the discussions said.
According to the decree approved by Monti’s cabinet in December, the payment is set to be completed by March 1. Under the government’s rescue plan, Monte Paschi will sell securities, dubbed “Monti” bonds, to the government with a 9 percent coupon that may rise to as much as 15 percent.
Enlarge image
Monti Government Said to Consider Delaying Monte Paschi Bailout
Pedestrians shelter from the rain beneath umbrellas as they pass the headquarters of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA in Piazza Salimbeni in Siena. Photographer Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
Pedestrians shelter from the rain beneath umbrellas as they pass the headquarters of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA in Piazza Salimbeni in Siena. Photographer Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
A decision whether to go ahead with the capital injection may be made as soon as today, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Government and Monte Paschi officials didn’t answer several phone calls seeking comment. The stock fell as much as 4 percent in Milan trading.
Italian elections this week produced a hung parliament, with comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-austerity movement winning more than 25 percent of the popular vote, compared with the 10.5 percent of the votes received by Monti’s coalition in the lower house. Grillo opposed the current bailout plan, arguing that a parliamentary commission should investigate the bank’s dealings. A delay may prompt a review of the terms, said Fabrizio Bernardi, a Milan-based analyst at Fidentiis Equities.
‘Strong Opposition’
“Given the composition of the new parliament there could be strong opposition to the current form,” said Bernardi, who has a sell recommendation on the stock.
Monte Paschi (BMPS), engulfed by investigations of its former managers, said on Feb. 6 it will take a 730 million-euro hit to its assets after reviewing structured deals from 2008 and 2009 that hid losses on earlier derivatives. The bank is seeking state funds to boost capital after failing to meet regulators’minimum requirements in a rescue that some lawmakers and consumer groups have opposed.
Monte Paschi fell 3.6 percent to 20.52 cents by 11:04 a.m. in Milan. The stock is down 30 percent since Bloomberg Newsreported on Jan. 17 that the bank used a derivatives deal, dubbed Santorini, to disguise losses before a previous government bailout in 2009.
New terms for the current rescue could dilute shareholders should the bank swap existing debt for stock instead of taking on more debt, said Ronny Rehn, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in London.
“A delay raises uncertainty on the kind of bailout it will be offered and the level of potential dilution,” said Rehn.
By Elisa Martinuzzi & Sonia Sirletti - Feb 27, 2013 10:30 AM GMT
Mario Monti’s caretaker government is considering postponing a 3.9 billion-euro ($5.1 billion) bailout for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, leaving the final decision on the payout to the next government, two people familiar with the discussions said.
According to the decree approved by Monti’s cabinet in December, the payment is set to be completed by March 1. Under the government’s rescue plan, Monte Paschi will sell securities, dubbed “Monti” bonds, to the government with a 9 percent coupon that may rise to as much as 15 percent.
Enlarge image
Monti Government Said to Consider Delaying Monte Paschi Bailout
Pedestrians shelter from the rain beneath umbrellas as they pass the headquarters of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA in Piazza Salimbeni in Siena. Photographer Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
Pedestrians shelter from the rain beneath umbrellas as they pass the headquarters of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA in Piazza Salimbeni in Siena. Photographer Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
A decision whether to go ahead with the capital injection may be made as soon as today, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Government and Monte Paschi officials didn’t answer several phone calls seeking comment. The stock fell as much as 4 percent in Milan trading.
Italian elections this week produced a hung parliament, with comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-austerity movement winning more than 25 percent of the popular vote, compared with the 10.5 percent of the votes received by Monti’s coalition in the lower house. Grillo opposed the current bailout plan, arguing that a parliamentary commission should investigate the bank’s dealings. A delay may prompt a review of the terms, said Fabrizio Bernardi, a Milan-based analyst at Fidentiis Equities.
‘Strong Opposition’
“Given the composition of the new parliament there could be strong opposition to the current form,” said Bernardi, who has a sell recommendation on the stock.
Monte Paschi (BMPS), engulfed by investigations of its former managers, said on Feb. 6 it will take a 730 million-euro hit to its assets after reviewing structured deals from 2008 and 2009 that hid losses on earlier derivatives. The bank is seeking state funds to boost capital after failing to meet regulators’minimum requirements in a rescue that some lawmakers and consumer groups have opposed.
Monte Paschi fell 3.6 percent to 20.52 cents by 11:04 a.m. in Milan. The stock is down 30 percent since Bloomberg Newsreported on Jan. 17 that the bank used a derivatives deal, dubbed Santorini, to disguise losses before a previous government bailout in 2009.
New terms for the current rescue could dilute shareholders should the bank swap existing debt for stock instead of taking on more debt, said Ronny Rehn, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in London.
“A delay raises uncertainty on the kind of bailout it will be offered and the level of potential dilution,” said Rehn.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 27 Feb - 16:22
Italy: Merkel’s Europe hits the skids in Rome
27 February 2013Il Sole-24 Ore Milan
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Tom Janssen
The voters rejected the tutelage of Mario Monti and Angela Merkel, sabotaging the Chancellor's strategy of postponing the euro crisis until after Germany's September elections. To avoid a complete disintegration of the European consensus, the integration process must get back on track now.
Adriana CerretelliAngela Merkel has done everything she could to clear away the danger of new outbreaks of instability in Europe in the lead-up to the German elections in September.
In Italy, she played the Monti card to the full – without going beyond declarations of esteem – anxious as she is to avoid the boomerang effect that caught her on the hop when her unequivocal support of Nicolas Sarkozy helped contribute to his defeat at the polls.
After that, she was forced to deal with his successor, François Hollande. And to keep the markets calm, she even went as far as removing the penalties for France's failure to hold to its commitments to reduce its deficit, formalising the new softening of the rules in a letter to the European Commission – which merely confirms the de facto state of affairs in Greece, Portugal and Spain.
The Chancellor's strategy has not worked. The response of the voters in Italy has dramatically reopened the wound of instability, both inside and outside Italy. As expected, the markets are back on the attack. Europe is trembling and, to limit the damage, is dreaming of putting our country back under trusteeship, of sending it back for good to the outer orbit of countries that are already being closely watched – Greece & Co.
Challenging a united Europe
In reality, the crisis of the electoral hysterics in Italy has moved far beyond the national dimension of discontent and is now pushing the notion of a united Europe, always slipping away, hard up against some awkward truths. It is, rather, pushing its nose into the badly stirred soup of European unity, and the many lumps in the broth are beginning to pop to the surface.
That could put the euro to the test once again. Not so much because of the new eruption of the Italian question, but because Italy, the third-largest economy of the euro club, has touched on the problems of the single currency that the Union, until now, has tried to patch up in a hurry – or rather, hastily to sweep under the carpet.
The vote on Sunday and Monday certainly speaks volumes about the general exasperation with austerity and taxes in a country knocked low by the recession and unemployment. It expresses above all the revolt against the mandarins of a system that, having decided to enter the circle of the single currency, failed to make the choices it had to make to stay in it. There was no modernisation. There was no self-reform. There was no liberalisation to become more competitive and in tune with its partners. This system created in the Italians the illusion that the country could still muddle on by as it always had, perpetuating monopolies, from the smaller to the juiciest, without ever paying the price.
The Italians are not the only ones in Europe, though, who failed to weigh up the consequences of getting into the single currency. This is what has given rise to the dilemma of "More Europe, or less Europe", and "To be or not to be in the euro." It's not a dilemma solely for the Italians. It is, though, a taboo subject much more widespread among the euro club members and those who want to enter the club than one would believe.
Festering sore
This sore has continued to fester for four years during the crisis, while the club seems unable to come up with any answer other than the dogma of austerity and the shock reforms forced by the Germans, yet without having the shock absorbers of growth and still less those of intra-European solidarity. Not to mention the refusal to go through the normal democratic process – in the name, of course, of a technocratic option that is supposedly more efficient.
All this while the north-south divide is getting worse and while Europe and its industries continue to lose ground on the global market. The sacrifices are pleasing no one. And even less so those who, more or less everywhere, note that "Europe has the money to save the banks but not to restore growth and employment."
The markets, on the other hand, need some certitude about the future and integrity of the euro before they will calm down again. Will the guarantee offered by the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, be enough for that? And until when, now that Italy risks opening Pandora's box and letting everyone get a very look indeed at the many unresolved problems of the euro and the EU?
Accelerate euro integration
While the popular consensus on Europe is crumbling all across the continent, the single currency, ironically, needs to resist its internal troubles and accelerate its integration by ratifying the triple union in banking, budgeting and policy. It needs to decide once and for all if it will truly accept and see through to the end, a shared destiny at all levels and under the German model, which is now dominant and pervasive.
The German elections and the European elections in 2014 have temporarily put the debate and the negotiations on ice, pushing back for a few months the moment of truth, putting off the choices among the too many contradictions that Europe is made of. But the worries remain, and they are even growing in many parts of Europe. Even in France under François Hollande.
Will the easing of discipline conceded by Angela Merkel be enough to calm the markets and hold on until September without major upsets? Italy has sounded the alarm, a thundering alarm. It would be dangerous to ignore it. For Europe and for everyone.
27 February 2013Il Sole-24 Ore Milan
Tools
Tom JanssenThe voters rejected the tutelage of Mario Monti and Angela Merkel, sabotaging the Chancellor's strategy of postponing the euro crisis until after Germany's September elections. To avoid a complete disintegration of the European consensus, the integration process must get back on track now.
Adriana CerretelliAngela Merkel has done everything she could to clear away the danger of new outbreaks of instability in Europe in the lead-up to the German elections in September.
In Italy, she played the Monti card to the full – without going beyond declarations of esteem – anxious as she is to avoid the boomerang effect that caught her on the hop when her unequivocal support of Nicolas Sarkozy helped contribute to his defeat at the polls.
After that, she was forced to deal with his successor, François Hollande. And to keep the markets calm, she even went as far as removing the penalties for France's failure to hold to its commitments to reduce its deficit, formalising the new softening of the rules in a letter to the European Commission – which merely confirms the de facto state of affairs in Greece, Portugal and Spain.
The Chancellor's strategy has not worked. The response of the voters in Italy has dramatically reopened the wound of instability, both inside and outside Italy. As expected, the markets are back on the attack. Europe is trembling and, to limit the damage, is dreaming of putting our country back under trusteeship, of sending it back for good to the outer orbit of countries that are already being closely watched – Greece & Co.
Challenging a united Europe
In reality, the crisis of the electoral hysterics in Italy has moved far beyond the national dimension of discontent and is now pushing the notion of a united Europe, always slipping away, hard up against some awkward truths. It is, rather, pushing its nose into the badly stirred soup of European unity, and the many lumps in the broth are beginning to pop to the surface.
That could put the euro to the test once again. Not so much because of the new eruption of the Italian question, but because Italy, the third-largest economy of the euro club, has touched on the problems of the single currency that the Union, until now, has tried to patch up in a hurry – or rather, hastily to sweep under the carpet.
The vote on Sunday and Monday certainly speaks volumes about the general exasperation with austerity and taxes in a country knocked low by the recession and unemployment. It expresses above all the revolt against the mandarins of a system that, having decided to enter the circle of the single currency, failed to make the choices it had to make to stay in it. There was no modernisation. There was no self-reform. There was no liberalisation to become more competitive and in tune with its partners. This system created in the Italians the illusion that the country could still muddle on by as it always had, perpetuating monopolies, from the smaller to the juiciest, without ever paying the price.
The Italians are not the only ones in Europe, though, who failed to weigh up the consequences of getting into the single currency. This is what has given rise to the dilemma of "More Europe, or less Europe", and "To be or not to be in the euro." It's not a dilemma solely for the Italians. It is, though, a taboo subject much more widespread among the euro club members and those who want to enter the club than one would believe.
Festering sore
This sore has continued to fester for four years during the crisis, while the club seems unable to come up with any answer other than the dogma of austerity and the shock reforms forced by the Germans, yet without having the shock absorbers of growth and still less those of intra-European solidarity. Not to mention the refusal to go through the normal democratic process – in the name, of course, of a technocratic option that is supposedly more efficient.
All this while the north-south divide is getting worse and while Europe and its industries continue to lose ground on the global market. The sacrifices are pleasing no one. And even less so those who, more or less everywhere, note that "Europe has the money to save the banks but not to restore growth and employment."
The markets, on the other hand, need some certitude about the future and integrity of the euro before they will calm down again. Will the guarantee offered by the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, be enough for that? And until when, now that Italy risks opening Pandora's box and letting everyone get a very look indeed at the many unresolved problems of the euro and the EU?
Accelerate euro integration
While the popular consensus on Europe is crumbling all across the continent, the single currency, ironically, needs to resist its internal troubles and accelerate its integration by ratifying the triple union in banking, budgeting and policy. It needs to decide once and for all if it will truly accept and see through to the end, a shared destiny at all levels and under the German model, which is now dominant and pervasive.
The German elections and the European elections in 2014 have temporarily put the debate and the negotiations on ice, pushing back for a few months the moment of truth, putting off the choices among the too many contradictions that Europe is made of. But the worries remain, and they are even growing in many parts of Europe. Even in France under François Hollande.
Will the easing of discipline conceded by Angela Merkel be enough to calm the markets and hold on until September without major upsets? Italy has sounded the alarm, a thundering alarm. It would be dangerous to ignore it. For Europe and for everyone.
Panda- Platinum Poster
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Number of posts : 30555
Age : 67
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Warning :
Registration date : 2010-03-27
Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 27 Feb - 20:38
27 February 2013 Last updated at 18:02
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this page
894
Italy election: Beppe Grillo snubs deal with Bersani
Beppe Grillo said he should be
thanked for giving angry people hope
Continue
reading the main story
Italy's future
Italian comedian-turned-politician
Beppe Grillo, whose Five-Star Movement (M5S) defied expectations to come third
in last weekend's elections, has ruled out a coalition with the centre-left.
Pier Luigi Bersani's Democratic Party (PD) won a majority in the Chamber of
Deputies but fell short in the Senate.
Mr Grillo told the BBC he expected Mr Bersani to agree a deal with Silvio
Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL).
The inconclusive polls have pushed up borrowing costs for the government.
On Wednesday, the Italian treasury sold 4bn euros (£3.45bn) of new 10-year
government bonds on the financial markets at a yield of 4.83%, up from 4.17% at
its last sale in January, and 2.5bn euros of new five-year bonds at a yield of
3.59%, up from 2.94%.
BBC economics correspondent Andrew Walker says the latest rates are seen as
bearable, but that the rises signal that investors want to see a strong Italian
government, committed to economic reforms.
It is certainly possible that borrowing costs will rise further if the
political uncertainty drags on for a long period, he adds.
'Dead Man Talking'
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Grillo said he would not support any new
government and he expected fresh elections to be held within a year.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Five-Star Movement (M5S)
"Today in Italy, what will happen is what happened
before. The right and the left will get together and will govern a country of
rubble that they are responsible for," he said.
"It will last a year. One. Maximum. Then there will be elections again. And
once again, in the elections, the Five-Star movement will change the world," he
added.
Mr Grillo said the M5S would decide whether to support specific legislation
on a case-by-case basis.
Any attempts to persuade the movement to take part in a government were fake,
he asserted.
The 64 year old also rejected the suggestion that he was inciting popular
anger, saying he should be thanked for giving angry people hope.
"There was no hope. It was an anger without hope. It is anger without hope
that creates violence," he explained.
"But anger with hope is a different kind of anger, an optimistic anger, it is
not negative. We are containing this rage, so they should thank me. It is a
democratic rage that is needed to go forward."
On his blog, Mr Grillo also published a mocked-up film poster depicting Mr
Bersani as a "Dead Man Talking", based on the 1950 Italian comedy, 47 Morto Che
Parla.
"Bersani is a political stalker," Mr Grillo wrote. "It's been days that he
has been bothering the M5S with indecent proposals rather than resigning [the
leadership of the PD], as anyone else would have done in his place."
The Democratic Party and its centre-left allies won a narrow victory in the
Chamber of Deputies, but the Senate appears split with no party in control. Mr
Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is the second biggest bloc in the upper
house. The seats under Mr Grillo's control in both houses could therefore prove
crucial in making any coalition government viable.
On Tuesday, Mr Bersani outlined a series of policies for a PD-led government
which appeared to mostly be in line with M5S's manifesto.
Pier Luigi Bersani suggested
there could be agreement with Mr Grillo on a list of measures
He said any groups backing the government would have to vote for it in the
confidence motion required when a new administration takes office, and urged Mr
Grillo to "assume his responsibilities".
Meanwhile, a German opposition leader has made waves by describing Mr Grillo
and Mr Berlusconi as "clowns".
The Social Democratic Party's candidate for chancellor, Peer Steinbrueck,
told a rally in Potsdam that he was "shocked to a certain degree that two clowns
have won" the Italian elections and made it clear he was referring to the two
party leaders, calling the former prime minister "definitely a clown with a
special testosterone boost". Mr Berlusconi has been embroiled in a series of sex
scandals.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano cancelled a dinner with Mr Steinbrueck
after learning of his remarks, a spokesman for the SPD candidate said. Mr
Napolitano is still due to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on
Thursday.
Both Mr Grillo and Mr Berlusconi campaigned against the austerity measures
imposed by Italy's technocratic Prime Minister, Mario Monti, which were
supported by Mrs Merkel
Share this page
Share
this page
894
Italy election: Beppe Grillo snubs deal with Bersani
Beppe Grillo said he should be thanked for giving angry people hope
Continue
reading the main story
Italy's future
- Bumpy ride ahead after indecisive polls
- Italy struggles with 'nightmare' result
- A
blow against austerity - Stalemate in 'ungovernable' Italy
Italian comedian-turned-politician
Beppe Grillo, whose Five-Star Movement (M5S) defied expectations to come third
in last weekend's elections, has ruled out a coalition with the centre-left.
Pier Luigi Bersani's Democratic Party (PD) won a majority in the Chamber of
Deputies but fell short in the Senate.
Mr Grillo told the BBC he expected Mr Bersani to agree a deal with Silvio
Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL).
The inconclusive polls have pushed up borrowing costs for the government.
On Wednesday, the Italian treasury sold 4bn euros (£3.45bn) of new 10-year
government bonds on the financial markets at a yield of 4.83%, up from 4.17% at
its last sale in January, and 2.5bn euros of new five-year bonds at a yield of
3.59%, up from 2.94%.
BBC economics correspondent Andrew Walker says the latest rates are seen as
bearable, but that the rises signal that investors want to see a strong Italian
government, committed to economic reforms.
It is certainly possible that borrowing costs will rise further if the
political uncertainty drags on for a long period, he adds.
'Dead Man Talking'
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Grillo said he would not support any new
government and he expected fresh elections to be held within a year.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
End Quote Beppe Grillo Leader,
It's been days that [Pier Luigi Bersani] has been bothering
the M5S with indecent proposals rather than resigning, as anyone else would have
done in his place”
Five-Star Movement (M5S)
"Today in Italy, what will happen is what happened
before. The right and the left will get together and will govern a country of
rubble that they are responsible for," he said.
"It will last a year. One. Maximum. Then there will be elections again. And
once again, in the elections, the Five-Star movement will change the world," he
added.
Mr Grillo said the M5S would decide whether to support specific legislation
on a case-by-case basis.
Any attempts to persuade the movement to take part in a government were fake,
he asserted.
The 64 year old also rejected the suggestion that he was inciting popular
anger, saying he should be thanked for giving angry people hope.
"There was no hope. It was an anger without hope. It is anger without hope
that creates violence," he explained.
"But anger with hope is a different kind of anger, an optimistic anger, it is
not negative. We are containing this rage, so they should thank me. It is a
democratic rage that is needed to go forward."
On his blog, Mr Grillo also published a mocked-up film poster depicting Mr
Bersani as a "Dead Man Talking", based on the 1950 Italian comedy, 47 Morto Che
Parla.
"Bersani is a political stalker," Mr Grillo wrote. "It's been days that he
has been bothering the M5S with indecent proposals rather than resigning [the
leadership of the PD], as anyone else would have done in his place."
The Democratic Party and its centre-left allies won a narrow victory in the
Chamber of Deputies, but the Senate appears split with no party in control. Mr
Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is the second biggest bloc in the upper
house. The seats under Mr Grillo's control in both houses could therefore prove
crucial in making any coalition government viable.
On Tuesday, Mr Bersani outlined a series of policies for a PD-led government
which appeared to mostly be in line with M5S's manifesto.
Pier Luigi Bersani suggested there could be agreement with Mr Grillo on a list of measures
He said any groups backing the government would have to vote for it in the
confidence motion required when a new administration takes office, and urged Mr
Grillo to "assume his responsibilities".
Meanwhile, a German opposition leader has made waves by describing Mr Grillo
and Mr Berlusconi as "clowns".
The Social Democratic Party's candidate for chancellor, Peer Steinbrueck,
told a rally in Potsdam that he was "shocked to a certain degree that two clowns
have won" the Italian elections and made it clear he was referring to the two
party leaders, calling the former prime minister "definitely a clown with a
special testosterone boost". Mr Berlusconi has been embroiled in a series of sex
scandals.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano cancelled a dinner with Mr Steinbrueck
after learning of his remarks, a spokesman for the SPD candidate said. Mr
Napolitano is still due to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on
Thursday.
Both Mr Grillo and Mr Berlusconi campaigned against the austerity measures
imposed by Italy's technocratic Prime Minister, Mario Monti, which were
supported by Mrs Merkel
Panda- Platinum Poster
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Wed 27 Feb - 20:53
How on God's earth can a consortium of divers nations with differing; languages, political ethics, religions, customs, cultures and currencies who have been at each others throats for the past two thousand and more years over topics ranging from border disputes to political assassinations ever come together and sing from the same hymn sheet?
malena stool- Platinum Poster
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Number of posts : 13924
Location : Spare room above the kitchen
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 28 Feb - 9:15
malena stool wrote:How on God's earth can a consortium of divers nations with differing; languages, political ethics, religions, customs, cultures and currencies who have been at each others throats for the past two thousand and more years over topics ranging from border disputes to political assassinations ever come together and sing from the same hymn sheet?
They can't malena and the whole concept of a European Union is flawed. Had the Euro not been introduced all Members would have been able to set their own interest rates etc and if a Country went bankrupt like Greece there was no danger to other Countries . This all stemmed from Angela Merkel who thought Political and Monetary Union would avoid another catastrophe like the second World War and the poverty that started it.
Germany became a hard-working Industrial Nation whose people were quite happy to forgo any pay rises for 12 years to pay for the unification of West and East Germany. Now Germany is in a strong financial position and thinks every Country should adopt austerity, you can't ask for this though in the middle of a World-Wide recession.
Panda- Platinum Poster
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Number of posts : 30555
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 28 Feb - 13:41
Monti’s Virtue vs. Germany’s Vices
Photograph by Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images
by James Neuger| Feb. 28, 2013 7:32 AM EST | Posted in austerity, banks, budgets, economics, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Germany, Italy, Politics
|0 Comments
For once, Mario Monti had a sympathetic audience — dozens of European officials he mingled with and presided over during a 10-year European Commission career that, by the looks of it, he will remember more fondly than the 15 months...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Once Upon a Time
by Simon Kennedy| Feb. 27, 2013 12:03 PM EST | Posted in debt, Germany, history
|0 Comments
February 27, 1953 Sixty years ago today, 20 countries including Greece, Spain, and Italy signed the Agreement on German External Debts that forgave half of Germany’s pre- and post-war debt (with some exceptions) to encourage German economic reemergence and development...
Read more »
Photograph by Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
Italy’s Vote Was Bersani’s to Lose, and He Almost Pulled It Off
by Andrew Davis| Feb. 26, 2013 6:09 AM EST | Posted in austerity, bonds, budgets, economics, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Italy, markets, Politics
|7 Comments
The Italian elections were his to lose, and Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani did a really good job of almost doing just that. Bersani, a former communist who backed Prime Minister Mario Monti’s technical government, squandered a 15-point poll...
Read more »
Photograph by Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images
Peer Steinbrueck at an Ash Wednesday political event Feb. 13, 2013
Steinbrueck Goes Peer-Shaped in Brussels
by James Neuger| Feb. 19, 2013 11:42 AM EST | Posted in Germany, Politics, Posts
|0 Comments
Peer Steinbrueck made a German campaign cameo in Brussels today and left everyone wondering how he would manage the crisis differently than the woman he is trying to oust in next fall’s German federal election, Chancellor Angela Merkel. Steinbrueck made...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Annals of Soothsaying
by James Hertling| Feb. 19, 2013 8:31 AM EST | Posted in bailouts, bonds, debt, economics, European Union (EU), history
|0 Comments
February 19, 2009 Roubini Says a Sovereign May ‘Crack’ Amid Crisis Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the global credit crisis, said a “sovereign may crack” as officials try to bail out their financial systems. Europe’s debt...
Read more »
Photograph by Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Pope, Music Festival May Have Clipped Berlusconi’s Poll Momentum
by Andrew Davis| Feb. 18, 2013 3:30 AM EST | Posted in economics, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Italy, markets, Politics
|0 Comments
Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation and the popular San Remo music festival may have clipped some of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s momentum in the campaign for Italy’s end-of-month election amid a blackout on opinion polls. Pope Benedict’s Feb. 11...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Dept. of Diversions
by James Hertling| Feb. 18, 2013 3:10 AM EST | Posted in banks, debt, derivatives, Posts
|0 Comments
February 18, 2011 JPMorgan Says It Was Tricked Into Keeping Lehman’s ‘Goat Poo’ Collateral Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. tricked JPMorgan Chase & Co. into holding onto collateral that the bankrupt investment firm internally described as “goat poo,” according to a...
Read more »
Photograph by American Images Inc
Draghi Dismisses Currency Spat as More Jaw Than War
by Jeff Black| Feb. 15, 2013 7:00 AM EST | Posted in austerity, currencies, economics, euro, European Central Bank, Germany, markets, Politics
|0 Comments
Mario Draghi says the currency war is phoney. According to the European Central Bank president, there’s been too much “chatter” in the past two weeks about fluctuations in global currencies, set off by a decision by Japan’s central bank to...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Department of Rewrites
by James Hertling| Feb. 15, 2013 6:15 AM EST | Posted in debt, euro, European Union (EU), Greece
|0 Comments
February 15, 2010 Juncker Says Greek Finances Are Internal Greek Problem Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the euro group of ministers, said Greece is “responsible” for budget consolidation and the country’s difficulties are an “internal problem.” Europe’s debt crisis only...
Read more »
Photograph by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
Calls for Spanish Premier to Quit Echo Attacks That Made Aznar
by Ben Sills| Feb. 15, 2013 4:20 AM EST | Posted in austerity, budgets, debt, economics, elections, euro, Politics, Spain
|1 Comment
Spain’s socialist opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba is trying to make the most of graft allegations against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. His campaign to get Rajoy to quit brings back memories of when the Socialist Party was ejected from power...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Annals of Innocence
by James Hertling| Feb. 14, 2013 11:44 AM EST | Posted in austerity, budgets, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Greece
|0 Comments
February 14, 2010 Trichet Says Promises by European Leaders, Greece Are ‘Enough’ European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said promises made last week by Greece and the 26 other European Union governments on finances and the stability of the euro...
Read more »
Photograph by Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Imagesby James Neuger| Feb. 28, 2013 7:32 AM EST | Posted in austerity, banks, budgets, economics, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Germany, Italy, Politics
|0 Comments
For once, Mario Monti had a sympathetic audience — dozens of European officials he mingled with and presided over during a 10-year European Commission career that, by the looks of it, he will remember more fondly than the 15 months...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Once Upon a Time
by Simon Kennedy| Feb. 27, 2013 12:03 PM EST | Posted in debt, Germany, history
|0 Comments
February 27, 1953 Sixty years ago today, 20 countries including Greece, Spain, and Italy signed the Agreement on German External Debts that forgave half of Germany’s pre- and post-war debt (with some exceptions) to encourage German economic reemergence and development...
Read more »
Photograph by Alessia Pierdomenico/BloombergItaly’s Vote Was Bersani’s to Lose, and He Almost Pulled It Off
by Andrew Davis| Feb. 26, 2013 6:09 AM EST | Posted in austerity, bonds, budgets, economics, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Italy, markets, Politics
|7 Comments
The Italian elections were his to lose, and Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani did a really good job of almost doing just that. Bersani, a former communist who backed Prime Minister Mario Monti’s technical government, squandered a 15-point poll...
Read more »
Photograph by Christof Stache/AFP via Getty ImagesPeer Steinbrueck at an Ash Wednesday political event Feb. 13, 2013
Steinbrueck Goes Peer-Shaped in Brussels
by James Neuger| Feb. 19, 2013 11:42 AM EST | Posted in Germany, Politics, Posts
|0 Comments
Peer Steinbrueck made a German campaign cameo in Brussels today and left everyone wondering how he would manage the crisis differently than the woman he is trying to oust in next fall’s German federal election, Chancellor Angela Merkel. Steinbrueck made...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Annals of Soothsaying
by James Hertling| Feb. 19, 2013 8:31 AM EST | Posted in bailouts, bonds, debt, economics, European Union (EU), history
|0 Comments
February 19, 2009 Roubini Says a Sovereign May ‘Crack’ Amid Crisis Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the global credit crisis, said a “sovereign may crack” as officials try to bail out their financial systems. Europe’s debt...
Read more »
Photograph by Franco Origlia/Getty ImagesPope, Music Festival May Have Clipped Berlusconi’s Poll Momentum
by Andrew Davis| Feb. 18, 2013 3:30 AM EST | Posted in economics, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Italy, markets, Politics
|0 Comments
Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation and the popular San Remo music festival may have clipped some of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s momentum in the campaign for Italy’s end-of-month election amid a blackout on opinion polls. Pope Benedict’s Feb. 11...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Dept. of Diversions
by James Hertling| Feb. 18, 2013 3:10 AM EST | Posted in banks, debt, derivatives, Posts
|0 Comments
February 18, 2011 JPMorgan Says It Was Tricked Into Keeping Lehman’s ‘Goat Poo’ Collateral Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. tricked JPMorgan Chase & Co. into holding onto collateral that the bankrupt investment firm internally described as “goat poo,” according to a...
Read more »
Photograph by American Images IncDraghi Dismisses Currency Spat as More Jaw Than War
by Jeff Black| Feb. 15, 2013 7:00 AM EST | Posted in austerity, currencies, economics, euro, European Central Bank, Germany, markets, Politics
|0 Comments
Mario Draghi says the currency war is phoney. According to the European Central Bank president, there’s been too much “chatter” in the past two weeks about fluctuations in global currencies, set off by a decision by Japan’s central bank to...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Department of Rewrites
by James Hertling| Feb. 15, 2013 6:15 AM EST | Posted in debt, euro, European Union (EU), Greece
|0 Comments
February 15, 2010 Juncker Says Greek Finances Are Internal Greek Problem Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the euro group of ministers, said Greece is “responsible” for budget consolidation and the country’s difficulties are an “internal problem.” Europe’s debt crisis only...
Read more »
Photograph by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty ImagesCalls for Spanish Premier to Quit Echo Attacks That Made Aznar
by Ben Sills| Feb. 15, 2013 4:20 AM EST | Posted in austerity, budgets, debt, economics, elections, euro, Politics, Spain
|1 Comment
Spain’s socialist opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba is trying to make the most of graft allegations against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. His campaign to get Rajoy to quit brings back memories of when the Socialist Party was ejected from power...
Read more »
Today in Euro Crisis History: Annals of Innocence
by James Hertling| Feb. 14, 2013 11:44 AM EST | Posted in austerity, budgets, elections, euro, European Union (EU), Greece
|0 Comments
February 14, 2010 Trichet Says Promises by European Leaders, Greece Are ‘Enough’ European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said promises made last week by Greece and the 26 other European Union governments on finances and the stability of the euro...
Read more »
Panda- Platinum Poster
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Number of posts : 30555
Age : 67
Location : Wales
Warning :
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 28 Feb - 15:30
Italy’s parliamentary election could not have gone worse for the country or the euro area.
It is now possible that in the coming months the currency zone’s third-largest economy will need a bailout from international creditors, at a time when Italy will have no government in place to ask for, or negotiate, a rescue. In case you had any doubts, the euro-area crisis is back.
About Megan Greene»
Megan Greene is the chief economist at Maverick Intelligence, which advises governments and companies on political, ...MORE
More from Megan Greene:
Even more worrisome, Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement, which has called for a referendum on whether Italy should keep the euro, has emerged as a major political force with a quarter of the vote.
Most observers had expected a partnership between Bersani’sDemocratic Party -- which scraped a win in the lower house --and Prime Minister Mario Monti’s centrists to get a majority in the Senate. But Monti scored just 10.6 percent of the vote, while Berlusconi and Grillo did better than expected in regions that are key to winning the Senate.
Long Road
Italy now has a long road to travel before it can put together a government able to pursue the painful changes to the economy that the markets and the European Central Bank demand. Financial markets hadn’t priced in such an inconclusive result, and the selloff of Italian assets that it triggered this week will probably continue, pushing up the country’s borrowing costs.
The bottom line is that Italy will almost certainly have to hold a second election; the only real question is when. In the meantime, there are four central scenarios for attempts to form a government.
The first would be for Bersani and Monti to create a minority coalition in the Senate, with Berlusconi offering his support in exchange for certain measures to be passed. This kind of horse trading would be unstable, and we could expect Berlusconi to withdraw his backing at the first hint that he wasn’t getting his way. “Il Cavaliere” (the Knight), as Berlusconi is known, has a long track record -- it was he who forced early elections.
A second possibility is that the center-left and center-right could form a grand coalition. The difficulty here is that Berlusconi’s and Bersani’s partner on the left, Left Ecology Freedom party leader Nichi Vendola, has already ruled this out. The third option is a coalition between Berlusconi and Grillo in the Senate, the least likely outcome of all, given Grillo’s disdain for his fellow comedian.
The final possibility is for Grillo to join forces with Bersani and Monti. The Five Star Movement leader has insisted throughout the election campaign that he would not partner with other parties, and may stick to this line to maintain his anti-establishment credentials. Even if Grillo changes his mind, it seems unlikely that he will sit quietly on the sidelines while Bersani and Monti pursue a policy of structural reform and austerity. So this arrangement would also be unstable.
Quick Collapse
What all of these potential governments have in common is that it would be politically impossible for them to implement the kinds of changes to Italy’s spending, labor and product markets that the bond markets, the ECB and potential creditors, such as Germany and the International Monetary Fund, would want to see. We could expect any of these arrangements to collapse quickly.
Nevertheless, a parliament will have to be formed, because in Italy, the president of the republic holds the power to call a vote, and President Giorgio Napolitano is near the end of his term. So before new elections can be held, parliament must choose a new president to call them.
The new parliament will probably also want to pass an electoral law, which should be reasonably easy to do, if the center-left, the centrists and Grillo can form a temporary coalition. All three groups are in favor of reducing the number of provinces and members of parliament, as a way of lowering the cost of politics. Any other political permutation would see protracted wrangling over an electoral law.
Electing a president, passing an electoral law, holding a new election and forming a new government will take time. In the interim, investors will be concerned that Italy may be unable to repay its loans. Italy has the world’s third-largest debt pile, at $2.16 trillion and 126 percent of gross domestic product, with 273 billion euros ($356 billion) due for repayment this year. Voters not only failed to bring to power a government that can implement the reforms necessary to stabilize Italy’s mountain of debt, but roughly half of them cast a ballot for anti-austerity parties (Berlusconi’s center-right coalition and Grillo’s Five Star Movement). Italy clearly suffers from an advanced case of austerity fatigue.
Worst of all, the country could be shut out of debt markets at a time when it cannot make use of the support mechanisms that exist for such an occasion. If investors decide that buying Italian debt is not worth the risk and Italy loses market access, the government could normally request support from theEuropean Stability Mechanism -- the European Union’s bailout fund --and the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions bond-buying program.
No Access
In order to use these mechanisms, the Italian government would have to agree to a series of structural reforms and fiscal targets that are stricter than those the country has been pursuing. If the government in place cannot make progress on the latter, it can’t credibly sign up to the former. No conditionality means no access to Europe’s bailout fund and no ECB bond purchases. Without access to the markets or to these support mechanisms, Italy could face a default.
The euro area has shown itself adept at crafting last-minute solutions when pushed to the brink, so that could happen again. But, by nature, this will be an extremely unsettling time for a currency area whose collective economy is already under severe strain.
These are significant risks before a second ballot takes place. There is also a chance that a second election might deliver a majority to Berlusconi or -- even worse -- to Grillo. It is too early to guess what the results of a second election might be, or who would even run in them. What is clear is that Italy and the euro area are in for some rough months ahead.
(Megan Greene is a Bloomberg View columnist and chief economist at Maverick Intelligence. She is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington. The opinions expressed are her own.)
It is now possible that in the coming months the currency zone’s third-largest economy will need a bailout from international creditors, at a time when Italy will have no government in place to ask for, or negotiate, a rescue. In case you had any doubts, the euro-area crisis is back.
About Megan Greene»
Megan Greene is the chief economist at Maverick Intelligence, which advises governments and companies on political, ...MORE
More from Megan Greene:
- Italian Election Can’t Produce Both Stability and Reform
Q - Tap Into the European Economy
Q - The Real Threat From Spain’s Corruption Scandal
Q
Even more worrisome, Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement, which has called for a referendum on whether Italy should keep the euro, has emerged as a major political force with a quarter of the vote.
Most observers had expected a partnership between Bersani’sDemocratic Party -- which scraped a win in the lower house --and Prime Minister Mario Monti’s centrists to get a majority in the Senate. But Monti scored just 10.6 percent of the vote, while Berlusconi and Grillo did better than expected in regions that are key to winning the Senate.
Long Road
Italy now has a long road to travel before it can put together a government able to pursue the painful changes to the economy that the markets and the European Central Bank demand. Financial markets hadn’t priced in such an inconclusive result, and the selloff of Italian assets that it triggered this week will probably continue, pushing up the country’s borrowing costs.
The bottom line is that Italy will almost certainly have to hold a second election; the only real question is when. In the meantime, there are four central scenarios for attempts to form a government.
The first would be for Bersani and Monti to create a minority coalition in the Senate, with Berlusconi offering his support in exchange for certain measures to be passed. This kind of horse trading would be unstable, and we could expect Berlusconi to withdraw his backing at the first hint that he wasn’t getting his way. “Il Cavaliere” (the Knight), as Berlusconi is known, has a long track record -- it was he who forced early elections.
A second possibility is that the center-left and center-right could form a grand coalition. The difficulty here is that Berlusconi’s and Bersani’s partner on the left, Left Ecology Freedom party leader Nichi Vendola, has already ruled this out. The third option is a coalition between Berlusconi and Grillo in the Senate, the least likely outcome of all, given Grillo’s disdain for his fellow comedian.
The final possibility is for Grillo to join forces with Bersani and Monti. The Five Star Movement leader has insisted throughout the election campaign that he would not partner with other parties, and may stick to this line to maintain his anti-establishment credentials. Even if Grillo changes his mind, it seems unlikely that he will sit quietly on the sidelines while Bersani and Monti pursue a policy of structural reform and austerity. So this arrangement would also be unstable.
Quick Collapse
What all of these potential governments have in common is that it would be politically impossible for them to implement the kinds of changes to Italy’s spending, labor and product markets that the bond markets, the ECB and potential creditors, such as Germany and the International Monetary Fund, would want to see. We could expect any of these arrangements to collapse quickly.
Nevertheless, a parliament will have to be formed, because in Italy, the president of the republic holds the power to call a vote, and President Giorgio Napolitano is near the end of his term. So before new elections can be held, parliament must choose a new president to call them.
The new parliament will probably also want to pass an electoral law, which should be reasonably easy to do, if the center-left, the centrists and Grillo can form a temporary coalition. All three groups are in favor of reducing the number of provinces and members of parliament, as a way of lowering the cost of politics. Any other political permutation would see protracted wrangling over an electoral law.
Electing a president, passing an electoral law, holding a new election and forming a new government will take time. In the interim, investors will be concerned that Italy may be unable to repay its loans. Italy has the world’s third-largest debt pile, at $2.16 trillion and 126 percent of gross domestic product, with 273 billion euros ($356 billion) due for repayment this year. Voters not only failed to bring to power a government that can implement the reforms necessary to stabilize Italy’s mountain of debt, but roughly half of them cast a ballot for anti-austerity parties (Berlusconi’s center-right coalition and Grillo’s Five Star Movement). Italy clearly suffers from an advanced case of austerity fatigue.
Worst of all, the country could be shut out of debt markets at a time when it cannot make use of the support mechanisms that exist for such an occasion. If investors decide that buying Italian debt is not worth the risk and Italy loses market access, the government could normally request support from theEuropean Stability Mechanism -- the European Union’s bailout fund --and the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions bond-buying program.
No Access
In order to use these mechanisms, the Italian government would have to agree to a series of structural reforms and fiscal targets that are stricter than those the country has been pursuing. If the government in place cannot make progress on the latter, it can’t credibly sign up to the former. No conditionality means no access to Europe’s bailout fund and no ECB bond purchases. Without access to the markets or to these support mechanisms, Italy could face a default.
The euro area has shown itself adept at crafting last-minute solutions when pushed to the brink, so that could happen again. But, by nature, this will be an extremely unsettling time for a currency area whose collective economy is already under severe strain.
These are significant risks before a second ballot takes place. There is also a chance that a second election might deliver a majority to Berlusconi or -- even worse -- to Grillo. It is too early to guess what the results of a second election might be, or who would even run in them. What is clear is that Italy and the euro area are in for some rough months ahead.
(Megan Greene is a Bloomberg View columnist and chief economist at Maverick Intelligence. She is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington. The opinions expressed are her own.)
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 28 Feb - 17:11
Democracy: States, markets and citizens on collision course
28 February 2013I Kathimerini Athens
Tools
Michael Kountouris
The uncertain outcome of the Italian elections and the success of Beppe Grillo have again demonstrated the undercurrents agitating Europe’s crisis-stricken countries. Will the EU, or even more crucially the markets, now make a gesture to break the vicious circle of crisis and citizens’ defiance?
Alexis Papachelas The tension that is simmering below the surface between the democracies of Europe and the international financial markets is not likely to end anytime soon and no one can predict its outcome.
The markets speak their own unforgiving language. They are threatening to pull the lending plug on Europe. But without borrowed money, or bonds, it will be nearly impossible for the bloc to maintain the standard of living and the level of welfare and social benefits that have defined the way its societies function since the end of World War II.
In fact, the markets are pushing the money to the East, where people are more accustomed to lower living standards and democracy functions differently.
The level of change and sacrifice in order to reach the targets that the financial markets are demanding, especially from southern Europe, is difficult, if not utterly impossible to achieve. No nation is ready to accept a major and widespread change of lifestyle – for the worse – without having an inevitable violent reaction.
Politically manageable transition
The European elite, centred in Brussels and Berlin, believed that the transition to a more competitive and thrifty Europe would be a process that was politically manageable. This may have been the case for certain northern European countries that have a good grasp of the concepts of the social contract and show more fortitude in the face of adversity.
In the case of Greece, as well as that of Italy, however, reforms and harsh cutbacks have not been so easy to swallow and have not been passed easily. In such countries, austerity awakens the instinct to react against anything that shakes up the status quo and strengthens society’s anti-systemic tendencies.
Breaking the vicious cycle
How can we break out of this vicious cycle? It is impossible to tell. The crisis has deepened and broadened the already large cultural and political divides that separate European nations. And now it looks like the financial markets are not at all prepared to tone down their demands and take a step back. The risk of Europe entering a protracted phase of instability and economic hardship is on the horizon as the markets continue to increase the spreads and certain citizens vote for politicians like Italy’s Beppe Grillo.
The limits and strength of democracy are set to be sorely tested, even though European democracy often seems a shallow institution that is played out behind the scenes of the public stage – something neglected by those who champion Silvio Berlusconi today when just yesterday they were presenting him as a paradigm of corruption and entanglement.
On the web
Opinion Stepping up to the democratic challenge
“The Italian election has confirmed many sophisticated people in their view that democracy – or at least, unmoderated democracy – doesn’t work. Left to themselves, they say, voters keep opting for lower taxes and higher spending. That’s why Europe is in such a mess”, writes the columnist and Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan in The Daily Telegraph.
Many in Brussels argue for a restriction in democratic rights, but there is another option. “Why not trust voters more?” asks Hannan, quoting the words of the late British Conservative MP Keith Joseph, who said: “Give people more responsibility and they’ll behave more responsibly.” Hannan points to the example of Switzerland, whose citizens are given a great deal of political responsibility through regular referendums. He adds –
28 February 2013I Kathimerini Athens
Tools
Michael Kountouris The uncertain outcome of the Italian elections and the success of Beppe Grillo have again demonstrated the undercurrents agitating Europe’s crisis-stricken countries. Will the EU, or even more crucially the markets, now make a gesture to break the vicious circle of crisis and citizens’ defiance?
Alexis Papachelas The tension that is simmering below the surface between the democracies of Europe and the international financial markets is not likely to end anytime soon and no one can predict its outcome.
The markets speak their own unforgiving language. They are threatening to pull the lending plug on Europe. But without borrowed money, or bonds, it will be nearly impossible for the bloc to maintain the standard of living and the level of welfare and social benefits that have defined the way its societies function since the end of World War II.
In fact, the markets are pushing the money to the East, where people are more accustomed to lower living standards and democracy functions differently.
The level of change and sacrifice in order to reach the targets that the financial markets are demanding, especially from southern Europe, is difficult, if not utterly impossible to achieve. No nation is ready to accept a major and widespread change of lifestyle – for the worse – without having an inevitable violent reaction.
Politically manageable transition
The European elite, centred in Brussels and Berlin, believed that the transition to a more competitive and thrifty Europe would be a process that was politically manageable. This may have been the case for certain northern European countries that have a good grasp of the concepts of the social contract and show more fortitude in the face of adversity.
In the case of Greece, as well as that of Italy, however, reforms and harsh cutbacks have not been so easy to swallow and have not been passed easily. In such countries, austerity awakens the instinct to react against anything that shakes up the status quo and strengthens society’s anti-systemic tendencies.
Breaking the vicious cycle
How can we break out of this vicious cycle? It is impossible to tell. The crisis has deepened and broadened the already large cultural and political divides that separate European nations. And now it looks like the financial markets are not at all prepared to tone down their demands and take a step back. The risk of Europe entering a protracted phase of instability and economic hardship is on the horizon as the markets continue to increase the spreads and certain citizens vote for politicians like Italy’s Beppe Grillo.
The limits and strength of democracy are set to be sorely tested, even though European democracy often seems a shallow institution that is played out behind the scenes of the public stage – something neglected by those who champion Silvio Berlusconi today when just yesterday they were presenting him as a paradigm of corruption and entanglement.
On the web
Opinion Stepping up to the democratic challenge
“The Italian election has confirmed many sophisticated people in their view that democracy – or at least, unmoderated democracy – doesn’t work. Left to themselves, they say, voters keep opting for lower taxes and higher spending. That’s why Europe is in such a mess”, writes the columnist and Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan in The Daily Telegraph.
Many in Brussels argue for a restriction in democratic rights, but there is another option. “Why not trust voters more?” asks Hannan, quoting the words of the late British Conservative MP Keith Joseph, who said: “Give people more responsibility and they’ll behave more responsibly.” Hannan points to the example of Switzerland, whose citizens are given a great deal of political responsibility through regular referendums. He adds –
Treat voters like children and you get sulks and tantrums. Treat them like adults and you get – well, you get Switzerland.
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Thu 28 Feb - 19:48
On paper political union and a stable currency could appear to be a good idea, but not when more than 3/4 of the EU was on its knees before union and remains so. As already commented the language barrier is a huge problem, couple that with recent history that brands the very country which wishes to introduce, control and enforce monetary union and policy is the self same one that inflicted two world wars upon us in an attempt to achieve total domination of Europe.Panda wrote:malena stool wrote:How on God's earth can a consortium of divers nations with differing; languages, political ethics, religions, customs, cultures and currencies who have been at each others throats for the past two thousand and more years over topics ranging from border disputes to political assassinations ever come together and sing from the same hymn sheet?
They can't malena and the whole concept of a European Union is flawed. Had the Euro not been introduced all Members would have been able to set their own interest rates etc and if a Country went bankrupt like Greece there was no danger to other Countries . This all stemmed from Angela Merkel who thought Political and Monetary Union would avoid another catastrophe like the second World War and the poverty that started it.
Germany became a hard-working Industrial Nation whose people were quite happy to forgo any pay rises for 12 years to pay for the unification of West and East Germany. Now Germany is in a strong financial position and thinks every Country should adopt austerity, you can't ask for this though in the middle of a World-Wide recession.
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Thu 28 Feb - 19:48
On paper political union and a stable currency could appear to be a good idea, but not when more than 3/4 of the EU was on its knees before union and remains so. As already commented the language barrier is a huge problem, couple that with recent history that brands the very country which wishes to introduce, control and enforce monetary union and policy is the self same one that inflicted two world wars upon us in an attempt to achieve total domination of Europe.Panda wrote:malena stool wrote:How on God's earth can a consortium of divers nations with differing; languages, political ethics, religions, customs, cultures and currencies who have been at each others throats for the past two thousand and more years over topics ranging from border disputes to political assassinations ever come together and sing from the same hymn sheet?
They can't malena and the whole concept of a European Union is flawed. Had the Euro not been introduced all Members would have been able to set their own interest rates etc and if a Country went bankrupt like Greece there was no danger to other Countries . This all stemmed from Angela Merkel who thought Political and Monetary Union would avoid another catastrophe like the second World War and the poverty that started it.
Germany became a hard-working Industrial Nation whose people were quite happy to forgo any pay rises for 12 years to pay for the unification of West and East Germany. Now Germany is in a strong financial position and thinks every Country should adopt austerity, you can't ask for this though in the middle of a World-Wide recession.
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Re: New EC Thread
fuzeta Thu 28 Feb - 21:47
malena stool wrote:On paper political union and a stable currency could appear to be a good idea, but not when more than 3/4 of the EU was on its knees before union and remains so. As already commented the language barrier is a huge problem, couple that with recent history that brands the very country which wishes to introduce, control and enforce monetary union and policy is the self same one that inflicted two world wars upon us in an attempt to achieve total domination of Europe.Panda wrote:malena stool wrote:How on God's earth can a consortium of divers nations with differing; languages, political ethics, religions, customs, cultures and currencies who have been at each others throats for the past two thousand and more years over topics ranging from border disputes to political assassinations ever come together and sing from the same hymn sheet?
They can't malena and the whole concept of a European Union is flawed. Had the Euro not been introduced all Members would have been able to set their own interest rates etc and if a Country went bankrupt like Greece there was no danger to other Countries . This all stemmed from Angela Merkel who thought Political and Monetary Union would avoid another catastrophe like the second World War and the poverty that started it.
Germany became a hard-working Industrial Nation whose people were quite happy to forgo any pay rises for 12 years to pay for the unification of West and East Germany. Now Germany is in a strong financial position and thinks every Country should adopt austerity, you can't ask for this though in the middle of a World-Wide recession.
Well it looks like it Malena and they have not fired a shot!!!!!
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Thu 28 Feb - 22:12
The fact we have no German or French immigrants flocking here in their thousands suggests that their standards of living are light years above ours and having no free at source welfare handouts they will not attract immigrants to their own borders.fuzeta wrote:malena stool wrote:On paper political union and a stable currency could appear to be a good idea, but not when more than 3/4 of the EU was on its knees before union and remains so. As already commented the language barrier is a huge problem, couple that with recent history that brands the very country which wishes to introduce, control and enforce monetary union and policy is the self same one that inflicted two world wars upon us in an attempt to achieve total domination of Europe.Panda wrote:malena stool wrote:How on God's earth can a consortium of divers nations with differing; languages, political ethics, religions, customs, cultures and currencies who have been at each others throats for the past two thousand and more years over topics ranging from border disputes to political assassinations ever come together and sing from the same hymn sheet?
They can't malena and the whole concept of a European Union is flawed. Had the Euro not been introduced all Members would have been able to set their own interest rates etc and if a Country went bankrupt like Greece there was no danger to other Countries . This all stemmed from Angela Merkel who thought Political and Monetary Union would avoid another catastrophe like the second World War and the poverty that started it.
Germany became a hard-working Industrial Nation whose people were quite happy to forgo any pay rises for 12 years to pay for the unification of West and East Germany. Now Germany is in a strong financial position and thinks every Country should adopt austerity, you can't ask for this though in the middle of a World-Wide recession.
Well it looks like it Malena and they have not fired a shot!!!!!
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 1 Mar - 17:14
Greece: The multinationals are back
1 March 2013
Presseurop I Kathimerini, Le Monde
I Kathimerini, 1 March 2013"Goods train to Europe sees the light of day," announces I Kathimerini, in its report on the February 28 inauguration of a 17km railway connecting the port of Piraeus to the Thriasio logistics platform close to Athens. The new link will boost transport links to central and south-east Europe.
The opening of the line has been eagerly awaited by Chinese firm Cosco, which has operated half the port since 2010 and is seeking to develop its business. “All of the conditions were fulfilled for the signature [on March 1] of an agreement between Cosco and Hewlett Packard, which is planning to make Piraeus a transport hub for its products on their way to Europe,” reports the daily.
The deal, adds I Kathimerini, will help Prime Minister Antonis Samaras convince the troika, which sent a delegation to Athens on the day of the inauguration, that reforms and the government’s privatisation programme are moving forward. Since the start of this week, his coalition government has had multiple meetings with industrial groups like Philip Morris and major banks in its bid to fulfill the objectives assigned by Greece’s creditors: the privatisation of water, power generation, trains, certain airports, race tracks etc.
Le Monde reports on another story of a multinational returning to Greece, the Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, which is keen to develop its business in the country —
However, Le Monde remains cautious about a “timid recovery that is still fragile” —
1 March 2013
Presseurop I Kathimerini, Le Monde
I Kathimerini, 1 March 2013"Goods train to Europe sees the light of day," announces I Kathimerini, in its report on the February 28 inauguration of a 17km railway connecting the port of Piraeus to the Thriasio logistics platform close to Athens. The new link will boost transport links to central and south-east Europe.The opening of the line has been eagerly awaited by Chinese firm Cosco, which has operated half the port since 2010 and is seeking to develop its business. “All of the conditions were fulfilled for the signature [on March 1] of an agreement between Cosco and Hewlett Packard, which is planning to make Piraeus a transport hub for its products on their way to Europe,” reports the daily.
The deal, adds I Kathimerini, will help Prime Minister Antonis Samaras convince the troika, which sent a delegation to Athens on the day of the inauguration, that reforms and the government’s privatisation programme are moving forward. Since the start of this week, his coalition government has had multiple meetings with industrial groups like Philip Morris and major banks in its bid to fulfill the objectives assigned by Greece’s creditors: the privatisation of water, power generation, trains, certain airports, race tracks etc.
Le Monde reports on another story of a multinational returning to Greece, the Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, which is keen to develop its business in the country —
The company has decided to transfer production of 110 consumer products, which until now have been imported from central and eastern Europe, to Greece. The products will be manufactured under licence by Greek partner companies.The government, reports the French daily, “is counting on privatisations to accelerate investment in Greece, the sale of the sports betting business Opap, and the Depa gas company, which have attracted interest from Russian companies.”
However, Le Monde remains cautious about a “timid recovery that is still fragile” —
Within the country, the government is still unable to collect revenue and combat tax evasion. [...] Then there is the external context of uncertainty over Italy, which is threatening to have repercussions on Greece.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 1 Mar - 18:16
1 March 2013 Last updated at 11:05
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363
Eurozone unemployment hits 11.9%
Portugal has the third highest
unemployment rate in the eurozone
Continue
reading the main story
Eurozone
crisis
The rate of unemployment in the
eurozone rose to a fresh record high in January, official figures show.
The jobless rate in the 17 countries that use the euro rose to 11.9% in
January from 11.8% in December,
the statistics agency Eurostat said.
The highest rate was 27% in Greece, although the most recent figure there was
from November, while the lowest rate was 4.9% in Austria.
Eurostat
also said eurozone inflation had fallen to 1.8% in February.
The inflation figure was the lowest for two years, putting it in line with
the European Central Bank's (ECB) inflation target of below, but close to
2%.
Analysts said that the high unemployment and low figure for inflation would
make it more likely that the ECB would cut its interest rates later in the year
from the current rate of 0.75%.
"All the data is supporting a rate cut, which we see in the second quarter,"
said Sarah Hewin from Standard Chartered.
"They could move as early as next week, but there's an element of the ECB
wanting to keep its powder dry as we enter an uncertain political situation with
Italy and the Cypriot debt question has to be resolved."
The highest unemployment rates among countries that have reported their
January figures were 26.2% in Spain and 17.6% in Portugal.
Unemployment in the 27 countries that make up the European Union rose to
10.8% in January from 10.7% the previous month.
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363
Eurozone unemployment hits 11.9%
Portugal has the third highest unemployment rate in the eurozone
Continue
reading the main story
Eurozone
crisis
- Troubling year ahead
- A
central banker's view on the eurozone - What really caused the euro crisis?
- Are all summits a waste of time?
The rate of unemployment in the
eurozone rose to a fresh record high in January, official figures show.
The jobless rate in the 17 countries that use the euro rose to 11.9% in
January from 11.8% in December,
the statistics agency Eurostat said.
The highest rate was 27% in Greece, although the most recent figure there was
from November, while the lowest rate was 4.9% in Austria.
Eurostat
also said eurozone inflation had fallen to 1.8% in February.
The inflation figure was the lowest for two years, putting it in line with
the European Central Bank's (ECB) inflation target of below, but close to
2%.
Analysts said that the high unemployment and low figure for inflation would
make it more likely that the ECB would cut its interest rates later in the year
from the current rate of 0.75%.
"All the data is supporting a rate cut, which we see in the second quarter,"
said Sarah Hewin from Standard Chartered.
"They could move as early as next week, but there's an element of the ECB
wanting to keep its powder dry as we enter an uncertain political situation with
Italy and the Cypriot debt question has to be resolved."
The highest unemployment rates among countries that have reported their
January figures were 26.2% in Spain and 17.6% in Portugal.
Unemployment in the 27 countries that make up the European Union rose to
10.8% in January from 10.7% the previous month.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 1 Mar - 18:53
Italy’s Stalemate Imperils Crisis Resolution, Finland Says
By Kati Pohjanpalo - Mar 1, 2013 2:
Italy’s political gridlock following its inconclusive elections risks unraveling years of crisis management, Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen said.
Failure to commit to responsible fiscal policies could reignite market turmoil and result in losses that would be “too terrible,” Katainen said in an interview in Helsinki yesterday.“I don’t even want to consider that.”
Italian bond yields surged after elections this week delivered a four-way parliamentary split. Pier Luigi Bersani, the top vote getter, has resisted any collaboration with former Premier Silvio Berlusconi and said he would seek to hammer out a compromise with lawmakers elected under the upstart political movement of ex-comic Beppe Grillo.
Bersani, in an interview with la Repubblica today, said he plans a program of reforms to attract votes from all political parties after he ruled out an alliance with Berlusconi.
“Austerity alone leads to disaster,” Bersani told the newspaper, adding that Europe should relax fiscal policies and focus on jobs. “The debt and deficit consolidation is something that needs to be pushed back to the medium term.”
The euro fell as much as 0.5 percent against the dollar to $1.2986, its lowest since Dec. 11. It traded 0.4 percent lower at 1.3005 per dollar as of 2:08 p.m. in London.
Katainen urged Italian politicians not to ignore the nation’s economic hurdles.
Extensive Challenges
“In the Italian economy, the challenges are very extensive,” Katainen said. “It’s not possible to close your eyes and forget about them. They need structural reforms, competitiveness reforms, budgetary balancing. They’re hard resolutions, but unavoidable.”
The stalemate has added to investor concerns the debt crisis may resurface. That would disrupt the progress made in the second part of last year, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in July pledged to do “whatever it takes” to protect the euro.
When he was still Finland’s finance minister, Katainen participated in Europe’s crisis management that followed the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Since 2011, Katainen has headed the six-party coalition government in the northernmost euro nation, which gets about a third of its output from exports.
Continuing “responsible fiscal policies” is “primarily a question of Italians’ well-being,” Katainen said. “It also has a huge impact on the European economy. Countries that have done a lot to fix their economies, like Spain, Portugal and Ireland, they deserve to see those actions count and not be shaken by actions of other countries.”
Debt Load
Italy’s economy, saddled with $2.6 trillion in debt, has contracted for 18 months. Its borrowing costs rose to the highest in four months at an auction of a new 10-year bond on Feb. 27, even as demand increased from investors attracted by higher returns. Gross domestic product in the euro area’s third-largest economy will shrink through the third quarter, according to the median of 16 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
“The faster they’re able to form a government that’s able to proceed with reforms, the better,” Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen told reporters. “Italy’s stability has an impact on the whole euro area.”
Moody’s Investors Service said in a report this week that gridlock risks re-igniting the euro area’s debt crisis as turmoil in Italy risks spilling over into weaker sovereigns like Portugal and Spain.
AAA Rated
Finland, a AAA rated advocate of prudent fiscal policy, yesterday reiterated further spending cuts are needed to protect its top credit grade and end the nation’s debt growth by 2015. The targeted cuts will be agreed on March 21, the government said.
Finnish politicians have berated their euro-area counterparts for breaking jointly-agreed rules, amassing unsustainable debts and endangering the stability of the single currency. Finland kept its budget deficit within the bloc’s 3 percent of GDP rule even as its output contracted 8.5 percent in 2009.
It’s the only euro-area country that still boasts a stable AAA credit grade at the three major rating companies. Germany’s debt grade has a negative outlook at Moody’s Investors Service.
By Kati Pohjanpalo - Mar 1, 2013 2:
- Print
QUEUE
Q
Italy’s political gridlock following its inconclusive elections risks unraveling years of crisis management, Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen said.
Failure to commit to responsible fiscal policies could reignite market turmoil and result in losses that would be “too terrible,” Katainen said in an interview in Helsinki yesterday.“I don’t even want to consider that.”
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Bersani, in an interview with la Repubblica today, said he plans a program of reforms to attract votes from all political parties after he ruled out an alliance with Berlusconi.
“Austerity alone leads to disaster,” Bersani told the newspaper, adding that Europe should relax fiscal policies and focus on jobs. “The debt and deficit consolidation is something that needs to be pushed back to the medium term.”
The euro fell as much as 0.5 percent against the dollar to $1.2986, its lowest since Dec. 11. It traded 0.4 percent lower at 1.3005 per dollar as of 2:08 p.m. in London.
Katainen urged Italian politicians not to ignore the nation’s economic hurdles.
Extensive Challenges
“In the Italian economy, the challenges are very extensive,” Katainen said. “It’s not possible to close your eyes and forget about them. They need structural reforms, competitiveness reforms, budgetary balancing. They’re hard resolutions, but unavoidable.”
The stalemate has added to investor concerns the debt crisis may resurface. That would disrupt the progress made in the second part of last year, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in July pledged to do “whatever it takes” to protect the euro.
When he was still Finland’s finance minister, Katainen participated in Europe’s crisis management that followed the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Since 2011, Katainen has headed the six-party coalition government in the northernmost euro nation, which gets about a third of its output from exports.
Continuing “responsible fiscal policies” is “primarily a question of Italians’ well-being,” Katainen said. “It also has a huge impact on the European economy. Countries that have done a lot to fix their economies, like Spain, Portugal and Ireland, they deserve to see those actions count and not be shaken by actions of other countries.”
Debt Load
Italy’s economy, saddled with $2.6 trillion in debt, has contracted for 18 months. Its borrowing costs rose to the highest in four months at an auction of a new 10-year bond on Feb. 27, even as demand increased from investors attracted by higher returns. Gross domestic product in the euro area’s third-largest economy will shrink through the third quarter, according to the median of 16 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
“The faster they’re able to form a government that’s able to proceed with reforms, the better,” Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen told reporters. “Italy’s stability has an impact on the whole euro area.”
Moody’s Investors Service said in a report this week that gridlock risks re-igniting the euro area’s debt crisis as turmoil in Italy risks spilling over into weaker sovereigns like Portugal and Spain.
AAA Rated
Finland, a AAA rated advocate of prudent fiscal policy, yesterday reiterated further spending cuts are needed to protect its top credit grade and end the nation’s debt growth by 2015. The targeted cuts will be agreed on March 21, the government said.
Finnish politicians have berated their euro-area counterparts for breaking jointly-agreed rules, amassing unsustainable debts and endangering the stability of the single currency. Finland kept its budget deficit within the bloc’s 3 percent of GDP rule even as its output contracted 8.5 percent in 2009.
It’s the only euro-area country that still boasts a stable AAA credit grade at the three major rating companies. Germany’s debt grade has a negative outlook at Moody’s Investors Service.
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Age : 67
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Registration date : 2010-03-27
Re: New EC Thread
Badboy Sat 2 Mar - 23:44
I BELIEVE THERE HAVE BEEN PROTESTS IN PORTUGAL TODAY ABOUT AUSTERITY.
UNEMPLOYMENT IS 23% THERE.
UNEMPLOYMENT IS 23% THERE.
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Registration date : 2009-08-31
Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Sun 3 Mar - 8:12
If housewives/husbands ran their family budgets using the same methods of chance and dilatory guesswork as do the bankers and chancellors who run the nation's economy, entire families would starve, homes would be repossessed, jobs would be lost and the nation would have to support all working families.
OMG....I've just described what is happening world wide...
OMG....I've just described what is happening world wide...
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Number of posts : 13924
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Warning :
Registration date : 2009-10-04
Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 3 Mar - 9:51
Boom in German lessons as Europe's jobless head north
Classes in German are booming across southern Europe as young Spaniards,
Greeks and Italians flee their own recession-hit countries to seek employment in
the region's powerhouse.
The surge is driven by Germany's
robust economic performance Photo:
Alamy
By Jeevan Vasagar,
Berlin
5:46PM GMT 01 Mar 2013
18 Comments
More than 9,000 Spaniards took German courses last year, a jump of 56 percent
since 2009, new figures show. Of those studying the language in Madrid, one
third were under the age of 25.
Unemployment in Spain stood at 26 percent in January - twice the average for
the European Union - while more than half of young people are unemployed.
The classes appear to be paying off, however: in Germany, the number of
Spanish workers finding employment rose by just over 12 percent last year. The
number of Spaniards living in Berlin alone jumped to 11,473 in 2011 from 8,223
the previous year.
In Greece, where young people alone were facing an unemployment rate of
nearly 60 percent last year, enrollment in German classes has surged by 24
percent since the start of the credit crunch. Last year, the number of Greeks
working in Germany climbed by around 10%.
Italians were also dusting off their German books, with some 4,700 enrolling
in classes last year, an increase of 28 percent since the financial crisis
began.
Related Articles
The surge is driven by Germany's robust economic performance.
Unemployment in Germany, at 5.3 percent in January, is at its lowest level
since re-unification. The widening economic gap between Germany and the rest of
Europe was under-scored by recent figures showing there were 3.16m people out of
work in Germany in February, compared with a figure of 3.17m in France - which
has around 20m fewer inhabitants.
The transition from the sunny but austere south to harsh winters and the
formality of German office culture was tough for some, despite the steady
paycheque.
"We haven't seen the sun for three months, and the people can seem distant,"
Diego Ruiz del Arbol, a 32-year-old Spanish IT engineer and web content
consultant living in Berlin said in an interview with Reuters.
Still, he added: "Berlin is also a place where life is not just about work,
and you get to meet artists and actors and film directors."
The new migrants have enjoyed a positive portrayal in the German media. A
recent documentary on southern European migrants was titled "Dr Gastarbeiter" –
comparing the highly qualified new arrivals to the low-skilled guest-workers who
fuelled Germany's post-war economic revival.
The German language remains relatively unpopular with British teenagers,
however. The number of A-level entries for German fell below 5,000 in Britain's
schools last summer, making it less popular than Spanish, which was taken by
over 7,300 candidates.
Germany
Related Partners
In Germany
Tropical Islands Resort
Debt crisis: live
Nightscapes by Jakob Wagner
The Beast from the East
Snow in Europe
Classes in German are booming across southern Europe as young Spaniards,
Greeks and Italians flee their own recession-hit countries to seek employment in
the region's powerhouse.
The surge is driven by Germany's
robust economic performance Photo:
Alamy
By Jeevan Vasagar,
Berlin
5:46PM GMT 01 Mar 2013
18 Comments More than 9,000 Spaniards took German courses last year, a jump of 56 percent
since 2009, new figures show. Of those studying the language in Madrid, one
third were under the age of 25.
Unemployment in Spain stood at 26 percent in January - twice the average for
the European Union - while more than half of young people are unemployed.
The classes appear to be paying off, however: in Germany, the number of
Spanish workers finding employment rose by just over 12 percent last year. The
number of Spaniards living in Berlin alone jumped to 11,473 in 2011 from 8,223
the previous year.
In Greece, where young people alone were facing an unemployment rate of
nearly 60 percent last year, enrollment in German classes has surged by 24
percent since the start of the credit crunch. Last year, the number of Greeks
working in Germany climbed by around 10%.
Italians were also dusting off their German books, with some 4,700 enrolling
in classes last year, an increase of 28 percent since the financial crisis
began.
Related Articles
Germany passes 'Google tax' law
01 Mar 2013
Berlin Wall demolition protest
01 Mar 2013
Germany calling
01 Mar 2013
The surge is driven by Germany's robust economic performance.
Unemployment in Germany, at 5.3 percent in January, is at its lowest level
since re-unification. The widening economic gap between Germany and the rest of
Europe was under-scored by recent figures showing there were 3.16m people out of
work in Germany in February, compared with a figure of 3.17m in France - which
has around 20m fewer inhabitants.
The transition from the sunny but austere south to harsh winters and the
formality of German office culture was tough for some, despite the steady
paycheque.
"We haven't seen the sun for three months, and the people can seem distant,"
Diego Ruiz del Arbol, a 32-year-old Spanish IT engineer and web content
consultant living in Berlin said in an interview with Reuters.
Still, he added: "Berlin is also a place where life is not just about work,
and you get to meet artists and actors and film directors."
The new migrants have enjoyed a positive portrayal in the German media. A
recent documentary on southern European migrants was titled "Dr Gastarbeiter" –
comparing the highly qualified new arrivals to the low-skilled guest-workers who
fuelled Germany's post-war economic revival.
The German language remains relatively unpopular with British teenagers,
however. The number of A-level entries for German fell below 5,000 in Britain's
schools last summer, making it less popular than Spanish, which was taken by
over 7,300 candidates.
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| ||||||
| ||||||
| ||||||
| ||||||
Germany
Related Partners
In Germany
Tropical Islands Resort
Debt crisis: live
Nightscapes by Jakob Wagner
The Beast from the East
Snow in Europe
|
|
Panda- Platinum Poster
-
Number of posts : 30555
Age : 67
Location : Wales
Warning :
Registration date : 2010-03-27
Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 3 Mar - 10:15
EU Budget deal struck with £16billion sweeteners
The full extent of £16billion in “sweeteners” paid to European Union member
states to secure their support for last month’s decision to make a historic cut
in the union’s budget can be revealed for the first time.
David Cameron won allies at last
month’s Brussels summit to win an overall package of £30 billion
cuts Photo:
AFP
By Patrick Hennessy, Political
Editor
7:45PM GMT 02 Mar 2013
David Cameron said Britain could be “proud” after late-night talks set total
payments to the EU for 2014-20 at £770 billion, down from £800 billion for the
previous seven-year round.
It was the first time the EU’s multi-year budget had fallen - and the deal
also protected Britain’s annual £3.6 billion rebate, first negotiated by
Baroness Thatcher in the 1980s.
However, included in the deal were a series of “additional payments” to
individual countries which helped persuade them to sign up to the overall
package.
Many involved payments to wealthier nations under the controversial Common
Agricultural Policy - as well as using the EU’s much-criticised structural funds
regime, which sees money used on projects designed to cut the gap between rich
and poor.
A European Parliament document seen by The Sunday Telegraph spells out
for the first time which countries got what. Twenty five out of the 27 EU member
states were listed as receiving “additional payments” - the exceptions being
Britain, which only got its existing rebate, and Poland.
Related Articles
Critics last night said the document laid bare a “ridiculous” system of
“horse trading and special pleading” which resulted in an “economically
irrational and ineffective EU budget.” The result could be to hamper growth
across Europe rather than boosting it, the critics added.
The document showed that according to the “special payments”:
* France was awarded 200 million euros (£173 million) for Mayotte, an island
off the east coast of Africa which recently became an overseas French
department. Mayotte has a population of 204,000 - meaning it is effectively
getting 980 euros (£850) directly from EU taxpayers.
France is also getting an extra one billion euros (£870 million) for “rural
development.”
* Portugal has been awarded an extra 1 billion euros (£870 million) from
structural funds of which 150 million euros (£130 million) is earmarked for
Madeira - an island which has a notorious record in abusing EU cash on “white
elephant” projects in the past , including 3.5 million euros (£3 million) on
marina, built in 2005 but now abandoned, identified in a Sunday telegraph
investigation last year.
* Spain has got an extra 2.3 billion euros (£2 billion) - much of it to be
spent on infrastructure despite the bursting of the construction bubble being
identified as one of the main problems facing Spain’s crisis-hit economy.
* Belgium received an extra 133 million euros (£1.15 billion) from structural
funds to boost the regions of Limburg and Wallonia - which have gross domestic
products (GDP) of 96.1 per cent and 84.7 per cent of the EU average
respectively.
* Luxembourg has been awarded 20 million euros (£17.34 million) for rural
development despite the fact that it is the wealthiest EU member state and
agriculture only accounts for 0.3 per cent of its economy - the lowest
proportion in the entire union.
*Italy has received an extra 3 billion euros (£2.6 billion) - half from
structural funds and half for rural development.
Pawel Swidlicki, research analyst at the Open Europe think tank, said: “David
Cameron deserves credit for mustering an alliance in favour of an EU budget cut.
“However, these examples illustrate the ridiculous extent of horse-trading
and special pleading on the part of many member states which results in an
economically irrational and ineffective EU budget.
“In particular, using the structural funds as a form of deal-sweetener
results in widespread misallocations of scarce public funds coupled with massive
opportunity costs. Arguably, the net effect is to hamper growth rather than to
boost it.”
The Prime Minister won allies at last month’s Brussels summit to win an
overall package of £30 billion cuts - including a £1.7 billion administrative
costs reduction which will reduce the pay and perks of the EU’s 55,000-strong
civil service.
Britain will pay around £500 million a year less under the deal than it would
have done under a a draft agreement proposed last year.
Mr Cameron worked closely with the leaders of the Netherlands, Denmark and
Sweden as well as Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. It was the first major
EU summit since his pledge of an “in/out” referendum on Britain’s membership of
the EU.
He faced down Francois Hollande, the French president, who called for cuts in
the British rebate as well as originally backing a proposal for the overall
budget to be £830 billion - to preserve farm subsidies paid through the Commons
Agricultural Policy.
===========================
Cameron is a disgrace as a Prime Minister , no ethics at all.
The full extent of £16billion in “sweeteners” paid to European Union member
states to secure their support for last month’s decision to make a historic cut
in the union’s budget can be revealed for the first time.
David Cameron won allies at last
month’s Brussels summit to win an overall package of £30 billion
cuts Photo:
AFP
By Patrick Hennessy, Political
Editor
7:45PM GMT 02 Mar 2013
David Cameron said Britain could be “proud” after late-night talks set total
payments to the EU for 2014-20 at £770 billion, down from £800 billion for the
previous seven-year round.
It was the first time the EU’s multi-year budget had fallen - and the deal
also protected Britain’s annual £3.6 billion rebate, first negotiated by
Baroness Thatcher in the 1980s.
However, included in the deal were a series of “additional payments” to
individual countries which helped persuade them to sign up to the overall
package.
Many involved payments to wealthier nations under the controversial Common
Agricultural Policy - as well as using the EU’s much-criticised structural funds
regime, which sees money used on projects designed to cut the gap between rich
and poor.
A European Parliament document seen by The Sunday Telegraph spells out
for the first time which countries got what. Twenty five out of the 27 EU member
states were listed as receiving “additional payments” - the exceptions being
Britain, which only got its existing rebate, and Poland.
Related Articles
Britain can be proud of EU budget cut, says
Cameron
08 Feb 2013
British taxpayers to pay £350 million to EU
21 Jul 2012
Cameron triumphs as EU leaders agree on
first-ever budget cut
08 Feb 2013
Critics last night said the document laid bare a “ridiculous” system of
“horse trading and special pleading” which resulted in an “economically
irrational and ineffective EU budget.” The result could be to hamper growth
across Europe rather than boosting it, the critics added.
The document showed that according to the “special payments”:
* France was awarded 200 million euros (£173 million) for Mayotte, an island
off the east coast of Africa which recently became an overseas French
department. Mayotte has a population of 204,000 - meaning it is effectively
getting 980 euros (£850) directly from EU taxpayers.
France is also getting an extra one billion euros (£870 million) for “rural
development.”
* Portugal has been awarded an extra 1 billion euros (£870 million) from
structural funds of which 150 million euros (£130 million) is earmarked for
Madeira - an island which has a notorious record in abusing EU cash on “white
elephant” projects in the past , including 3.5 million euros (£3 million) on
marina, built in 2005 but now abandoned, identified in a Sunday telegraph
investigation last year.
* Spain has got an extra 2.3 billion euros (£2 billion) - much of it to be
spent on infrastructure despite the bursting of the construction bubble being
identified as one of the main problems facing Spain’s crisis-hit economy.
* Belgium received an extra 133 million euros (£1.15 billion) from structural
funds to boost the regions of Limburg and Wallonia - which have gross domestic
products (GDP) of 96.1 per cent and 84.7 per cent of the EU average
respectively.
* Luxembourg has been awarded 20 million euros (£17.34 million) for rural
development despite the fact that it is the wealthiest EU member state and
agriculture only accounts for 0.3 per cent of its economy - the lowest
proportion in the entire union.
*Italy has received an extra 3 billion euros (£2.6 billion) - half from
structural funds and half for rural development.
Pawel Swidlicki, research analyst at the Open Europe think tank, said: “David
Cameron deserves credit for mustering an alliance in favour of an EU budget cut.
“However, these examples illustrate the ridiculous extent of horse-trading
and special pleading on the part of many member states which results in an
economically irrational and ineffective EU budget.
“In particular, using the structural funds as a form of deal-sweetener
results in widespread misallocations of scarce public funds coupled with massive
opportunity costs. Arguably, the net effect is to hamper growth rather than to
boost it.”
The Prime Minister won allies at last month’s Brussels summit to win an
overall package of £30 billion cuts - including a £1.7 billion administrative
costs reduction which will reduce the pay and perks of the EU’s 55,000-strong
civil service.
Britain will pay around £500 million a year less under the deal than it would
have done under a a draft agreement proposed last year.
Mr Cameron worked closely with the leaders of the Netherlands, Denmark and
Sweden as well as Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. It was the first major
EU summit since his pledge of an “in/out” referendum on Britain’s membership of
the EU.
He faced down Francois Hollande, the French president, who called for cuts in
the British rebate as well as originally backing a proposal for the overall
budget to be £830 billion - to preserve farm subsidies paid through the Commons
Agricultural Policy.
===========================
Cameron is a disgrace as a Prime Minister , no ethics at all.
Panda- Platinum Poster
-
Number of posts : 30555
Age : 67
Location : Wales
Warning :
Registration date : 2010-03-27
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