Re: New EC Thread

[Panda]

Nice to know Iv'e been missed. There is nothing much going on at the moment , more interesting is what is going on in Europe.

It's like trying to hold back a Dam, Italy is cause for concern and the Bond Sales for Spain and Italy have increased yields, almost to the 7% danger
level. Ireland, Portugal and Greece are annoyed that special consideration has been given to Spain "the Country too large to fail".

Latest Poll in Greece suggests Sziriza the Party which has said it will refuse a bailout , Election takes place this Sunday and the EU is praying for a clar
Party with a majority.

Cyprus is the latest Country to seek a bail-out ......where will it all end?????

[Badboy]

I READ IN TELEGRAPH(USUALLY READ GUARDIAN)THAT SHARE PRICES,METHINK RALLIED FOR A FEW HOURS YESTERDAY ON THE NEWS OF THE SPANISH RESCUE,BUT THEN LOWERED BECAUSE OF CONCERNS.

[Panda]

I READ IN TELEGRAPH(USUALLY READ GUARDIAN)THAT SHARE PRICES,METHINK RALLIED FOR A FEW HOURS YESTERDAY ON THE NEWS OF THE SPANISH RESCUE,BUT THEN LOWERED BECAUSE OF CONCERNS.

Yes , they did drop yesterday, opened slightly lower today , Fitch says Spain won't meet it's Budget targets this year or next says fitch and there is now concern about where this E 100,000 billion to bail out Spanish Banks is coming from, Cyprus also must be considered and Italy is looking vulnerable.
As one analyst said, almost half of the Euro Countries are receiving bail-outs , Denmark is looking vulnerable and if the EU starts using the money due
as a rebate to all EU Countries it would be illegal. The rest of the World is fed up with the way the EU is handling this crisis , money is pouring out of
Spain Greece and Italy with no attempt to stop it.

[Badboy]

A COMMENTOR IN THE TELEGRAPH SAYS THEY MAY HAVE SOLVED THE LATEST CRISIS TEMPORARILY,BUT HE BETS THAT IN A FEW WEEKS TIME THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CRISIS IN THE EUROZONE

[Panda]

A COMMENTOR IN THE TELEGRAPH SAYS THEY MAY HAVE SOLVED THE LATEST CRISIS TEMPORARILY,BUT HE BETS THAT IN A FEW WEEKS TIME THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CRISIS IN THE EUROZONE

Yes Badboy, the rest of the world is fed up with the EU and saying it was ill conceived to introduce a Currency without a communal Banking System and

a watchdog. Merkel wants more control over the Sovereignty of Countries receiving a Bail out. Most Countries with any pride would vote against this.

[Panda]

Europhiles and eurosceptics – you’re all the same


12 June 2012
Spiked London Comment7


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Kopelnitsky


While Europhiles believe Brussels is the cure for all ills, Eurosceptics maintain it is the fount of all evil. But are they all that different from each other? wonders Spiked editor Brendan O’Neill.

Brendan O’Neill


Over the past year, as the Euro crisis has intensified, there has been a really interesting revelation – which is that Europhiles and Eurosceptics are not that different from each other. In fact, Europhiles and Eurosceptics are driven by very similar impulses, by similar anti-democratic instincts.

Both of these groups seem keen to absolve national governments of responsibility, to absolve nation states of responsibility for political and economic chaos.

Did the EU kill democracy? – No

The Europhile does it by kowtowing to Brussels, calling upon EU institutions to do more to save Europe. And the Eurosceptic does it by blaming the EU for almost everything that goes wrong, treating Brussels as a kind of Death Star that has sucked decency from every inch of Europe.

The Europhile tends to have blind faith in the EU, seeing it as the solution to every problem, while the Eurosceptic has a blinkered dislike of the EU, seeing it as the cause of every problem. What they share in common is a belief that responsibility lies with the EU. Both the depiction of the EU as the saviour of Europe and the depiction of it as the destroyer of Europe are underpinned by an instinct to say: “National governments are not to blame for what has gone wrong.”

In answer to the question ‘Did the EU kill democracy?’, I would say ‘No, it didn’t’. The EU is better understood as the end product of the death of democracy in Europe, a creation of national governments that had given up on the ideas of sovereignty and democracy. The EU follows the demise of European democracy, rather than instigating it.

The real driving force behind the EU over the past 40 years was the cowardice and opportunism of national governments, not the sinister ambitions of Brussels or Berlin. National political leaders who felt increasingly estranged from their own populations fashioned a post-sovereign institution that they could effectively hide in.

A good example of this came in the late 1990s, when the British government accepted the European ruling that the age of consent for homosexuals should be reduced from 18 to 16. That is something the government wanted to do anyway, but because it believed it would be controversial, it effectively allowed Europe to make the decision on its behalf. The benefit of the EU is that it allowed governments to take action without having to bother with pesky public debate or with taking moral responsibility.

Avoiding responsibility

Of course, the downsides to insulated decision-making are enormous and profound. Because the more national governments insulated themselves from their publics, the more incapable they became of exercising real leadership. The more they took refuge in EU institutions, the more out-of-touch and irrational they became.

We had an early warning of this during the Icelandic volcanic eruption in 2010, when political leaders basically went crazy, grounding aeroplanes and bringing Europe to a standstill. That was a direct consequence of their self-insulation, and their subsequent inability to engage with reality or show leadership.

The dangers of self-insulation can be seen even more dramatically in the Euro-crisis. No politician in Europe has the first clue how to deal with the crisis, precisely because every politician in Europe has spent recent decades avoiding making serious decisions, avoiding taking responsibility, avoiding being leaders. The growth of the ‘EU outlook’, of the idea that political leadership is too hard and technocratic decision-making is preferable, has directly worsened the Euro crisis.

But where the Eurosceptics get it wrong is in their treatment of Brussels as the single-handed destroyer of democracy, as a rampaging beast chewing up Little Englanders, Irish farmers, poor Greeks. Because the key dynamic in the formation of the EU was always national governments offering up political authority to EU institutions and disavowing their own sovereignty.

A schizophrenic attitude

Eurosceptics who point the finger of blame at ‘Bad Brussels’ are not that different from Europhiles who bow before ‘Good Brussels’. We’re now seeing the rise of a respectable form of Euroscepticism. From President Hollande in France to SYRIZA in Greece, many politicians now berate Brussels for ruining Europe.

But these attacks on Brussels are also designed to get national governments off the hook. When Hollande presents France as a victim of EU decisions, he’s playing the same game as those governments which once warmly welcomed EU decisions – he’s trying to avoid having his national institutions held to account for what has happened in France.

This schizophrenic attitude towards the EU is best summed up in the way Angela Merkel is now treated. I am almost starting to feel sorry for Merkel. She is depicted by some as a Hitler-style witch who has wrecked Europe. But she is held up by others as the potential saviour of Europe, with leaders calling upon her to save the Eurozone and to save struggling nations.

This demonstrates an infantile attitude not just towards Merkel but towards the EU more broadly. EU power is seen as dangerous, but so is EU inaction; some see the EU as the wrecker of nations, others believe it isn’t doing enough to rescue nations. The way Merkel and the EU are now treated reminds me of what Homer Simpson once said about beer – that it is ‘the cause of and the solution to all of life’s problems’.

On the web
Original article at Spiked en

[Panda]

As the June 17 general elections approach, the question of a eurozone exit is on everyone's mind. But radical left coalition Syriza, the most likely to be asked to form a government, refuses to clarify its position on the issue – thus fuelling anxiety.

Thanasis Lyrtsogiannis


Staying in the euro is the desire of 87% of Greeks. Most of the political parties support the same position. But as Sunday looms large and as the thermometer rises, uncertainty is increasing. Many inside and outside of the country fear that in Greece the euro will be a thing of the past. Books and articles demonstrate this, as do the comments of politicians, economists and the forecasts of analysts. This may seem paradoxical, but is it really?

Probably not because the experts are not crazy. Some are self-serving [some analysts and politicians are suspected of financial speculation on a return to the drachma], but not everybody belongs to the category of those that want Greece to withdraw from the euro.

A serious error

So what is happening? What are the goals? Objectively, the visible and deep-seated reason is the mixed messages sent by Syriza. While the radical left coalition [consisting of 13 small parties] struggles to take power, its members neither state directly or indirectly whether they want the country to stay in the eurozone. leaves the eurozone. In their comments they clear the way for logical interpretations that include the possibility of a withdrawal from the euro.

If this position is in fact a negotiating chip in order to be in a position of power later, it is a serious error. It increases uncertainty, flight [to other parties] and the insecurity of citizens. But these elections are crucial and no ambiguity can be tolerated.

Greece, the neverending crisis




The Greek people should be aware of the lack of clarity that Syriza has provided one the question of staying in the Euro or leaving. If they vote for Syriza, they are accepting whatever decision is made. They are not stupid little children and know that whatever they decide it has consequences. The rest of us need to let them make there choice and then they will have to live with the result.

All I know is that I would not trust any agreement made by any Greek government. They don't seen to feel that the promises they make need to be upheld. Their governments have lied to the people of Greace and to the World too many times in the past.

[Panda]

Madrid (CNN) -- A day after Spain became the fourth eurozone country to request financial aid, the man on the street in Madrid would rather talk about the country's chances on the football pitch than on the financial markets.

The reason? Spain's deal probably raises more questions than it answers at this point.

"They are trying to play it down and say it's business as usual -- but it is a really big issue,'' says Eduardo Segovia, financial correspondent for the online newspaper El Confidencial.com.

"People are angry. They are unsure about what this will mean for them. They don't know what to think or when this money will be paid back."

After nearly three hours on the phone, eurozone finance ministers this weekend decided to commit €100 billion euros -- $125 billion-- to help the club's latest ailing member. And for its part, Spain promised to formally assess how much it needs.

When a bailout is not a bailout

Key to the discussions was how to pitch Spain's aid package as anything but a bailout. Addressing journalists in Madrid, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy repeatedly called it "a credit line" instead.



Eurozone talks amid Spain bank crisis At times he appeared frustrated with persistent questioning about why his country was different from other insolvent eurozone neighbors like Portugal, Ireland and Greece.



Spain's crisis has real estate roots "I don't want to go into the minutiae. This is a line of credit. It will not affect the country's total debt," he said.

Either way, Segovia says the meaning is clear. "They don't want to call it one but it is one. We are getting the money from the European Union for our banks because we can't afford to bail out our banks."

Reading the fine print

I don't want to go into the minutiae. This is a line of credit

Mariano Rajoy Spain's predicament is a complex one.

In power since December, its new government has moved quickly to reform the labor market and cut public debts, but the total hole on the balance sheets of its banks has remained the big unknown.

Facing rising borrowing costs for its public debt, and damage to its credit score, Spain can ill-afford to raise the money its banks need to meet Europe-wide capital requirements.

This is why it has had to ask for help at cheap rates from the eurozone.

Yet Spain's bank rescue may prove tricky to implement.

Here's why.

We don't know yet how much money its banks will need.

The release of two independent, government commissioned reports will help authorities put a figure on that later this month. The International Monetary Fund reckoned $50 billion could be an appropriate amount, but the market consensus suggests it could be twice as much.

Another unknown is how much time Spain will be given to pay back the cash and what kind of conditions could be applied.

"We'll need a long time to pay it back. It could be up to 15 years. A short loan of three to five years wouldn't make any sense," says Segovia.

Spain's new leaders have been internationally praised for their unwavering commitment to austerity.

So it's unlikely that creditors will be given much of a say on how the country should be run.

However, if Spain ends up with more favorable terms than other bailed out eurozone countries, then that could cause friction in places like Ireland. It was pushed into a full sovereign bailout after its banks sought billions in help -- the same situation facing Spain.

The funds committed to Spain will be channeled through the eurozone's permanent and temporary bailout funds, the European Stability Mechanism and European Financial Stability Facility respectively.

But because those structures were designed for country-wide bailouts, Spain will still have to take the debts onto its sovereign books before it can be disbursed to the financial sector.

At $1.4 trillion, Spain is the eurozone's fourth-largest economy and a key member of the bloc.

With the eurozone facing pivotal elections in another troubled country, Greece, containing the Spanish problem is paramount to restoring confidence in the single currency.

Many of the crucial details will emerge over the next few weeks. But for the moment, politicians in Madrid continue to say it's not the Spanish bull that's running on empty -- but the Spanish banks whose cupboards are dry.

The rest of the world can only watch, and wait.

[Panda]

Italy is under pressure with a $2.3 Trillion debt. Bonds yielding almost 7%. Today, the 1 year Bond sold for 3.97% v2.34% on 11th May. Some
analysts are saying Italy will be needing a bail-out. Italy will be the next Country to request a bail out says Mazzucato from Sussex University.She also
says Britain is in a bad way, GE have just cancelled a £5 billion contract and there is no sign of growth in the Country.

Greeks are taking all their money out of Greek Banks on a large scale .

Greek shipping is the largest in the World, yet Shipowners pay no tax. Szirza vows to tax the Owners if elected , but Owners say they bring a huge amount of money into Greece and pay VAT. If the Greek Government insists on Shipowners paying Tax, they will move their business to another country. Greek Shipowners are among the richest in the world, yet still use their might to avoid tax.!!!!!

Fears of another hung Parliament result in the election on Sunday in Greece is making Investors jittery , even Germany now is not a safe havern so Investors are turning to Gold again.

The Euro area output continues to decline , including Gerrmany, for the second month.

Merkel wants more control over Countries which have a bail-out, which many Countries will resent. The Euro cannot survive without a Central Bank ,
and a workable fiscal policy, monitored by some kind of EU Authority.

[Badboy]

I READ IN GUARDIAN THAT GEORGE OSBORNE SAID IN SUPPOSEDLY OFF THE RECORD REMARKS THAT GREECE MAY NEED TO EXIT EURO TO SAVE THE EURO.
200 BILLION EUROS WAS MENTIONED(TO SAVE A COUNTRY?)

[Panda]

Many are asking where all this bailout money is coming from? One analyst said had Greece been allowed to default at the very beginning, 3 years ago ,
the situation would not have been as bad as it is now. Now contagion is setting in and the firewall is not big enough to protect Spain and Italy,
where it will all end is anyone's guess.

[Badboy]

taly has debts of $2.3trillion

[Panda]

Tom Janssen


It's been in the air for weeks — Nicosia is preparing to apply for €3bn to €4bn in emergency funding from the EU in order to recapitalise its struggling banks, highly exposed to Greek debt. But time is running out, writes the English-language Cyprus Mail.


Now that we are no longer in denial about the possibility of applying for an EU bailout, we should perhaps give some thought to the timing which could prove of critical importance. As we have accepted that we will take the plunge, the sooner the better, even if this goes against the government’s philosophy of leaving every important decision to the last minute.

Ideally, we should have applied at the same time as Spain, as we would have been treated in a similar way. We would still have had to take measures – probably be told to cut the public sector payroll – but at least everything would have been done in a controlled and measured way.

Having missed this opportunity, the government needed to apply before Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Greece, after which the euro-zone could be thrown into chaos, as a victory for the anti bailout leftists of SYRIZA would raise the prospect of a Greek exit from the euro and wreak havoc in the markets. It is a possibility nobody can rule out as opinion polls show the contest between SYRIZA and the pro-bailout New Democracy party to be too close to call.

Government bonds have junk status

So what is the government waiting for? Everyone knows that the Laiki Bank share issue which the government has under-written will not raise anywhere near the €1.8 billion needed for the bank’s re-capitalisation. We also know that the bonds the government issued are not considered acceptable by the ECB for re-capitalisation purposes (inevitable when a government’s bonds have junk status) which means the application for a bailout by the end of the month is a certainty.

Does the government seriously believe it will secure a loan from another country before the end of the month and avoid the support mechanism, as the spokesman has been suggesting? Surely it should have given up the hope of landing a loan from another government by now and started preparing for entry into the support mechanism by finalising the package of measures it would take. It would also be spared the embarrassment of negotiating bailout terms when it assumes the EU presidency on July 1.

Reports from Brussels suggest the government has already informed the Commission of its intention to enter the support mechanism, but it was unclear when the application would be filed. We hope, for once the government will show a sense of urgency and it would be sooner rather than later.

[Panda]

taly has debts of $2.3trillion

Yes Badboy, I mentioned that on here this morning. where is all this money coming from to bail out Spain, probably Italy and Cyprus has made a request
for I think E4 Billion.

[Badboy]

taly has debts of $2.3trillion

Yes Badboy, I mentioned that on here this morning. where is all this money coming from to bail out Spain, probably Italy and Cyprus has made a request
for I think E4 Billion.

I AM WONDERING IF IT WILL TAKE UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD TO PAY IT ALL OFF.
IN GUARDIAN,I REMEMBER READING AN ARTICLE TODAY ABOUT HOW SOME HOSPITAL AND CHARITIES IN GREECE HAVE NO MONEY FOR FOOD AND/OR MEDICINE.

[Panda]

ALTHOUGH Europe may seem far away from the economic life of the average American, the fate of the euro zone weighs heavily on the United States economy. Pension funds have invested in bonds issued by southern European states, while banks and insurance companies have underwritten a sizable fraction of the credit-default swaps protecting investors against default.

It’s no wonder, then, that President Obama is urging Germany to share in the debt of the euro zone’s southern nations. But in doing so, he and others overlook several critical facts.

For one thing, such a bailout is illegal under the Maastricht Treaty, which governs the euro zone. Because the treaty is law in each member state, a bailout would be rejected by Germany’s Constitutional Court.

Moreover, a bailout doesn’t make economic sense, and would likely make the situation worse. Such schemes violate the liability principle, one of the constituting principles of a market economy, which holds that it is the creditors’ responsibility to choose their debtors. If debtors cannot repay, creditors should bear the losses.

If we give up the liability principle, the European market economy will lose its most important allocative virtue: the careful selection of investment opportunities by creditors. We would then waste part of the capital generated by the arduous savings of earlier generations. I am surprised that the president of the world’s most successful capitalist nation would overlook this.

This does not mean there can be no systematic risk-sharing between the states of Europe. But for that to happen, the countries should first form a common nation, with a constitution, a common legal superstructure, a monopoly on power to ensure obedience to the law and a common army for external defense.

Otherwise, there is nothing to counter the strong centrifugal forces created by redistribution schemes, which would inevitably lead to political eruptions that would threaten the stability of the Continent. The European Union has enjoyed a long period of stability because it abstained from sizable interregional redistribution. This period would end if we redistributed incomes or debt without creating a United States of Europe.

Unfortunately, not one of these conditions is met in Europe today and won’t be in the foreseeable future, because the euro zone countries, above all France, are unwilling to give up sufficient sovereignty.

Even a European nation, however, should not socialize debt, a lesson demonstrated by the United States in the 19th century.

When Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton socialized the states’ war debt after the Revolutionary War, he raised the expectation of further debt socialization in the future, which induced the states to over-borrow. This resulted in political tensions in the early 19th century that severely threatened the stability of the young nation.

It took the experience of eight states and territories going bankrupt in the 1830s and 1840s for the United States to shed socialization. Today no one suggests bailing out California, which is nearly bankrupt but is expected to find its own solutions.

Criticism of bailouts in general does not mean, however, that Europe should eschew immediate help to crisis-stricken southern European countries. While help to avoid insolvency is dangerous, help to overcome brief liquidity crises is justified. The European Economic Advisory Group, an international think tank, has proposed providing liquidity help in the first two years of a crisis, with selective defaults according to maturity and socialization of excessive losses thereafter.

We are, however, already in the fifth year of generous liquidity help to Europe’s uncompetitive members. Since late 2007, the European Central Bank has helped with an international shift of refinancing credit, also known as Target credit, from the core euro states to the periphery, to which the German Bundesbank has contributed $874 billion. Greece’s and Portugal’s entire current account deficits were financed that way.

Moreover, since May 2010, the E.C.B. has bought more than $250 billion in government bonds, while nearly $500 billion has come from rescue programs and help from the I.M.F. Add to that two European rescue funds, and you have a total of $2.63 trillion.

It is unfair for critics to ask Germany to bear even more risk. Should Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain go bankrupt and repay nothing, while the euro survives, Germany would lose $899 billion. Should the euro fail, Germany would lose over $1.35 trillion, more than 40 percent of its G.D.P. Has the United States ever incurred a similar risk for helping other countries?

Some critics have argued that Germany, having benefited from the Marshall Plan, now owes it to Europe to undertake a similar rescue. Those critics should look at the numbers.

Greece has received or been promised $575 billion through assistance efforts, including Target credit, E.C.B. bond purchases and a haircut after a debt moratorium. Compare this with the Marshall Plan, for which Germany is very grateful. It received 0.5 percent of its G.D.P. for four years, or 2 percent in total. Applied to the Greek G.D.P., this would be about $5 billion today.

In other words, Greece has received a staggering 115 Marshall plans, 29 from Germany alone, and yet the situation has not improved. Why, Mr. Obama, is that not enough?


Hans-Werner Sinn is the president of the Ifo Institute and the director of the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich.
New York Times 12/6/12

[Panda]

Italian press gets behind Monti amid bailout rumours


13 June 2012


La Stampa, 13 June 2012


Rumours that Italy, in the wake of Spain, may demand financial assistance from the EU have been vigorously denied, in particular by the head of government. “Italy is not in danger,” reads La Stampa’s headline, quoting Prime Minister Mario Monti.

The day before, Monti had icily dismissed remarks made by Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter, which suggested that Italy could suffer the same fate as Spain. Following Spain’s request for assistance for its crumbling bank system, share prices plummeted on the Milan stock exchange while the rates of interest on Italian public debt surged above the psychological threshold of 6%. Adding his voice to Monti’s, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble affirmed in an interview also in La Stampa that “Rome is not in danger” on condition that it “perseveres on the path taken by the government”.

“The idea that just because the Spanish banks have had to be bailed out the Italian banks will also need to be rescued is patently absurd,” points out Stefano Lepri. The La Stampa journalist continues –


There is no data to justify growing concern about our country, which is safe provided that there is no confusion about its policy. […] The problems in the Eurozone have been neglected to the point where the bad faith of those who speculate against Italy has tainted everyone’s fears. In the space of a day, the irrationality of the markets has succeeded in transforming the positive development of the latest intervention on behalf of Spain into bad news.

It is a view that is also shared by Il Sole 24 Ore–


Those who thought that Eurogroup’s timely and for once preventive intervention on behalf of the Spanish banks would for once result in – if not calm – at least a few days of truce have been proved to be gravely mistaken. The markets are fed up with Europe’s reluctant firemen. They are less and less convinced by half-measures and the progressive solidarity that aims to achieve a quick fix with a minimum of resources, which inevitably falls short of radical, definitive and most importantly credible intervention. And it is for this reason that contagion continues to be a serious threat to the single currency. In the wake of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, it will shortly be Italy’s turn. In the meantime, we will likely see a fifth episode in the series of bailouts when Cyprus requests assistance for its banks in the next few days

[Panda]

Angela Merkel is speaking now in Parliament and says stress tests on Banks failed . Lack of Political Union is the reason for the crisis.

Spains problems stem from an irresponsible decade she says. Spanish Bond yields at a record high .

Merkel says Germany is not looking for a change in fiscal policy and political integration is necessary, and if the Euro fails the EU will fail.

Merkel also says debt sharing plans are counterproductive. German Bond yields increasing, a sign that the Country is no longer regarded as a safe haven.

Moodys says the bail outs are a failure in trying to combat the crisis. It has downgraded Spain to BAA3 and Cyprus to BA3. Says the EU has 3 months
to master the crisis or Spain and Italy will be taken out of their ratings.

Italy is to sell E4.5 billion Bonds today with different denominations, yields are expected to be higher.

Europes divisions widen as agreement on policymakers clash on way to combat crisis.

Tsipras , leader of Sziriza Party says bailouts are not the answer to the debt burden Greece is facing but says Europe will be the poorer if Greece is
forced to leave the Eurozone. Hollande, the French President agrees that a stronger role for the ECB is vital and that if Greece decided to leave the Euro that is their choice.

Switzerland has become again the safe haven but the Banks have set the rate at 1.20 the SNB says it is essential for Credit Suisse to boost capital
this year.

[Badboy]

IT WAS BEING SAID IN GUARDIAN TODAY THAT IF EUROZONE FALL APART,2TRILLION EUROS MIGHT HAVE TO BE SPENT ON THE BANKS.
THIS IS BASED ON A STUDY OF ONLY SOME BANKS IN EUROZONE.
THIS MIGHT BE THE MOTHER OF ALL BAILOUTS.

[Panda]

The crisis will affect the World, not just Europe if the Euro fails.

One analyst was just commenting on what Greece could expect if it left the Euro.

1. the Banking System would collapse

2. Poverty such as Greece has never seen will result. People will have no money for food.

3. The Drachma when printed would have no real value, inflation would result making products even more expensive and the jobless even higher.

[Panda]

Greek press on Greek elections (4/5)

For the next PM, a series of labours


14 June 2012
I Kathimerini Athens Comment



Panos Maragos


Despite a strong campaign by left wing leader Alexis Tsipras’ Syriza, conservative Antonis Samaras is likely to be the next Greek prime minister, believes conservative daily Kathimerini, while warning that his future will depend on whether the EU decides to soften the harsh regime of austerity his country is subject to.

Costas Iordanidis


We are approaching the end of an unbearable process, as the pre-election period has laid bare a political primitivism of unprecedented proportions. It catapulted Syriza chief Alexis Tsipras from the fringes to the centre of the Greek political stage. The previous elections [on May 6] resulted in a parliament of ex­tremes. We have reached a dead end.

Fear of the unknown, the dangers of major upheavals that may prove fatal, and the spectre of a Greek exit from the eurozone have resulted in galvanizing New Democracy (ND, right), at least to a point, which may lead to its being able to significantly increase its percentage in these elections compared to May 6. [Ex-Athens mayor and ex-Foreign minister] Dora Bakoyannis's decision to return to ND's ranks certainly paid off as it helped bring back liberal voters to the broad centre-right fold, though the fragmentation of a part of the traditional rightists from ND remains.

ND leader Antonis Samaras will most likely win next Sunday's elections. His first order of business will be to reverse the catastrophic policies of the last two Pasok administrations, which handled the crisis with lamentable amateurism and with the troika cobbled together two memorandums that have been widely acknowledged as being lacking at best.

The political parties that want Greece to stay in the eurozone are pinning their hopes on German Chan­cellor Angela Merkel changing her stance toward Athens, under pressure from the countries of south­ern Europe, French President François Hollande and US President Barack Obama, who is scrambling for re-election on the first Tuesday of November.

A head-on collision

Without getting into the moral aspect of the matter, Germany is effectively being asked to shoulder the burden of the eurozone's failure because it has ben­efited from the monetary union over the past few years, though thanks to its own sage policy. A radical change in the stance of the German government would ultimately mean Merkel committing political suicide in order to save the eurozone's indebted states.

It is not at all certain that Merkel will sacrifice herself, but until November she will show some signs of softening – on the condition of strict fiscal disci­pline – simply in order to avert a head-on collision with Obama. This will be the most crucial period for Greece. A lot will go down to the wire in the next few months, and it is clear that a unity government head­ed by ND and consisting of pro-Europe parties would be the most favorable.

In the present circumstances, a head-on collision with the European Union led by the belief that "pres­sure from the masses" will compel the bloc's mighti­est to change their position is rash and irrational.

[AnnaEsse]

[Panda]

Thanks AnnaEsse......Brilliant.!!!! It's like a Domino Effect, watching all these Countries seeking help. I do wonder what the Hell the EU was doing to
monitor the finances of the Euro Countries over the past 14 years. It was remarked today that Angela Merkel's attempt to get the rest of the World to
help out financially will be ignored. Her Parliament is unlikely to bail out any more countries and what exactly will these bail-outs achieve? Insermountable
debt , the downgrades by the agencies means their borrowing will be even more costly .

It really is a mess and hard to know where it will all end but Nick Farage is right and I noticed he got quite a lot of applause.

[Badboy]

ONE PLACE THAT SEEMS TO BE DOING ALL RIGHT IS SPETSES WHERE THE GREEK RICH HAVE THEIR PLAYGROUND.

[Panda]

ONE PLACE THAT SEEMS TO BE DOING ALL RIGHT IS SPETSES WHERE THE GREEK RICH HAVE THEIR PLAYGROUND.

The only thing that will worry them Badboy is the value of their shares and the exchange rates.!!

Italian Bonds sold today reached a yield of 6.99%.....7.0% is considered critical .

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