GREECE MAY HAVE IT"S CREDIT RATING TO JUNK FROM BBB-

It is reported that Fitch has warned Greece they must do more to reduce their debt by January.

Bloomberg is suing the ECB for allowing Greece to join the Union in 2001 when it had a 5 billion debt in derivatives so would not meet the criteria for
joining. It looks like a few Countries will leave the Euro and prove the ridiculous idea that one currency covers all should never have been adopted.

Yesterday I heard the term Piigs for the first time. It refers to the poor economic performers in the Eurozone. Portugal - Ireland - Italy - Greece - Spain. The poor Potuguese spending all those Euros on the McCann circus can't have helped their budget any, and it's the ordinary citizens who will suffer in the end.

Yes, the McCanns have incurred huge costs for the PJ and Leicseter oplice and havn"t even had the courtesy to say thanks!!!

Back to topic......Belgium is the latest to be vulnerable and these Bl***y Banks have still got the gall to pay themselves bonuses!!!!!

Panda wrote:
It is reported that Fitch has warned Greece they must do more to reduce their debt by January.

Bloomberg is suing the ECB for allowing Greece to join the Union in 2001 when it had a 5 billion debt in derivatives so would not meet the criteria for
joining. It looks like a few Countries will leave the Euro and prove the ridiculous idea that one currency covers all should never have been adopted.

Actually Greece joined the Euro just one year after the initial countries, because they were not meeting the criteria defined I think in Copenhagen. However, on the contrary that is being speculated outside the Euro zone, no country will leave the Euro and the idea of having one common currency, is not ridiculous, quite the opposite. You can't imagine how good it is to travel around without having to exchange money. The only problem that a single currency faces, is that any measure doesn't pass by the national Bank of each country, but via the ECB. That means a country facing difficulties can't devalue its own currency as it used to be done, though all's seems more complicated.
Don't forget as well, the UK is by tradition against the common currency, just because they want to be against and because there's the tendency of being against mainland Europe. The most amazing thing is that the deficit of the UK is higher than any country of the Eurozone: 12%. That means if you were inside Eurozone, you'd face the ghost of IMF and an intervention of the ECB as well. ;)

Hi F Soares

Germany anbd France are the strongest Members of the EC and your"e quite right, Britain has always been an unwilling Partner, maybe it"s the strip
of water that seperates us. However, I still maintain one currency fits all will never work and the cost of maintaining MEP"s and the Budget for
the EU is huge. Add to this the fact that the Accounts for the EU have not been audited for many years and MEPs are paid huge salaries and expenses, amass large pensions and you have to wonder why a crisis like this happened in the EU, albeit it originated in the USA. I think there will be Countries
leaving the Euro and perhaps each Country should have been allowed to manage it"s own economy and there was just a EU for defence and free trade.

Panda wrote:
Yes, the McCanns have incurred huge costs for the PJ and Leicseter oplice and havn"t even had the courtesy to say thanks!!!

Back to topic......Belgium is the latest to be vulnerable and these Bl***y Banks have still got the gall to pay themselves bonuses!!!!!

Belgium is probably very vulnerable right now as it has been running on a caretaker government for the past 8 months or so. There are mutterings that it may even split the country in half. I hope not, because neither half could survive alone and certainly the Flemish would not join the Netherlands, they would rather just die; I can't speak for the Walloons but it's probably the same.

Hi TFG

I think it is madness to help financially the new Eastern bloc Countries to integrate into the EU. When Britain joined it was a "Common Market" designed
for Free Trade among it"s Members, now it has morphed into a dictatorship where the Eu dictates our Laws, trade practices etc and the taxpayer is
paying for two tiers of Government. I listen to discussions on Bloomberg and this current crisis will have a knock on effect with some Countries opting
out of the Euro and others being forced to. It would be dreadful if Belgium became a divided Nation because of this.