Rolling business and financial news, including this afternoon’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.Summary: Eurogroup meeting starting nowGreek opposition: Varoufakis must be replacedMerkel: Difficult road aheadFull story: Greece threatens new elections if eurozone rejects planned reforms 1.51pm GMT Reporters in Brussels are poised for the arrival of Germany’s finance minister, who’s likely to take his usual tough stance with Greece:Waiting for Schäuble. #Eurogroup pic.twitter.com/gRSlJPNYq0 1.31pm GMT And here’s a videoclip of Pierre Moscovici telling reporters that Greece must give more details of its reform plans today.#Eurogroup meeting - EU Commissioner @pierremoscovici on #Greek reforms http://t.co/rY1hdCTs6i pic.twitter.com/AhbdySdx2B 1.23pm GMT Dutch Deputy FinMin: "Greeks should move as fast as they can, they should speed up". Declines to comment on potential referendum. #Greece 1.22pm GMT Eric Wiebes, the Dutch state secretary for finance, has just declared that Greece’s list of reforms isn’t sufficient.Arriving at the eurogroup meeting in Brussels, Wiebes told reporters that a full package must be agreed and signed off by creditors by the end of enc#Eurogroup greeks need to get a move on. need a proper reform package by end of april rubberstamped by troika - wiebes, dutch official 1.17pm GMT European commissioner Pierre Moscovici has declared that Greece must provide more specifics about its reform plans at today’s meeting, as the trickle of quotes from Brussels begins.Moscovici: First reform list was accepted by institutions, we need to go more into detail. But that won't necessarily be today. #GreeceMoscovici: It is 'essential' that the Greek gov't works with the 'Institutions' on the technical level. #Greece #Eurogroup 12.46pm GMT A quick recap.Eurozone finance ministers are due in Brussels shortly for a eurogroup meeting, with Greece’s bailout programme top of the agenda.German Bunds rally as #ECB said to begin buying German Government bonds under QE plan. 10yr yields drop to 0.36%. pic.twitter.com/lxUlqSe7J1 12.04pm GMT Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem warned yesterday that Greece’s latest reform plan is “far from complete”. So what is it?The programme which Greece sent to Brussels last week [online here] consists of seven key points.These are classic examples of projected “waste and inefficiency” savings, which tend to be taken only at a substantial discount in any program negotiations — it’s not that it isn’t possible to sweat the paperclips budget, or to improve competitive tendering, it’s just that delivery on this sort of program is never taken for granted. I don’t think the Eurogroup will treat these measures as fiscally neutral, which means that more funding from spending cuts or tax rises will need to come from somewhere else.OK, my first-cut analysis of the Greek proposals is up on medium. https://t.co/QLZETOaBqt . I feel bad about being so negative, but WCYD? 11.56am GMT The European Commission has just announced that Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, will meet with Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday.President @JunckerEU will meet PM @atsipras in Brussels on Friday 13.3 at 9.00am. 11.03am GMT German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Europe faces a “very difficult path” over Greece.“I have said time and time again, and I can say it again here, our political goal is to keep Greece in the euro zone. We have been working on this for many years.“But it’s also true that there are two sides to this coin -- on the one hand solidarity from European partners, and on the other the readiness to implement reforms and other commitments at home. 10.43am GMT The FT’s Peter Spiegel has published a letter sent by eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem to the Greek government on Friday.In it, Dijsselbloem thanks Yanis Varoufakis for the seven reforms he outlined in his own letter last week, before cautioning that more work is needed.Dear Yanis,I thank you for your letter, dated 5 March 2015, and for the attached document outlining in some detail seven of the reforms planned by the Greek government..@J_Dijsselbloem letter to @yanisvaroufakis: "troika" (sorry, "institutions") returning to Athens? Leaked letter here http://t.co/8lwBzZxajE 10.33am GMT 10.27am GMT Greek government bonds are weakening this morning, showing that traders see the debt as riskier.The yield (or interest rate) on Greek 10-year sovereign debt has risen to 9.96%, from 9.5% on Friday night.* Greek 3-year government bond yields rise 112 bps to 15.436 percent - RTRS 10.11am GMT The European Central Bank has confirmed that its new QE programme kicked off this morning:ECB and Eurosystem national central banks have, as previously announced, started purchases under the Public Sector Purchase Programme.Leisurely start RT @FerroTV BUNDESBANK SAYS IT WAS ACTIVE IN MARKET FROM 9:25 AM CET 9.59am GMT Heads up. Eurozone ministers will arrive for today’s meeting in Brussels around 2.45pm local time, or 1.45pm GMT.Doorstep #Eurogroup at around 14.45. 9.56am GMT Many of the City’s biggest names are worried that markets underestimate the risk that Greece might leave the eurozone.That’s according to a new poll from the Financial Times. Here’s a flavour:“Neither the eurozone, nor perhaps even the EU itself could survive a stampede out the door,” said Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange.Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of insurer Prudential, said: “Financial markets seem remarkably relaxed about a potential Grexit; they believe that either it will not happen, or it will not matter. That belief deserves to be challenged.” 9.37am GMT One of the German MPs who voted against Greece’s bailout extension has argued that the country would be better off quitting the eurozone.“By leaving the euro zone, as finance minister Schäuble has suggested, the country could make itself competitive again from a currency perspective with a new drachma.“This would provide Greece with a great opportunity to renew itself economically and administratively, making itself fit again to return to the eurozone from a position of strength.” 9.20am GMT A new opinion poll shows that over two-thirds of Greeks want their leaders to reach a “fair compromise” with its creditors. The number who favour a tough fight that risks Greece leaving the eurozone has fallen a little:#Greece poll [Marc]: 69,6% for 'fair compromise' w Eurozone (+1.9% vs prev), 27,4% for 'confrontation even if it wd lead to Grexit' (-2.2%)Among Syriza voters, 57,8% for 'fair compromise', 38,9% for 'confrontation'. #Greece 9.14am GMT Meanwhile, alternate economy minister Dimitris Mardas has insisted this morning that Greece’s state revenues were not in such a parlous position as many imagined.Over to Helena Smith again: Insisting that a solution would be found “despite the low expectations,” Mardas took commentators aback this morning saying: “the picture that we have of revenues is better than expected.”Greece’s tax collecting apparatus has come to a grinding halt since the year began with revenues dropping by a precipitous 22 %, according to officials. “Scenarios”, he said referring to the idea of a referendum floated by Varoufakis over the weekend, “won’t happen.” 9.01am GMT Over in Athens, opposition to government policies - and members - is escalating ahead of today’s eurogroup meeting of euro area finance ministers. “With what Mr Varoufakis is doing, he is dangerous for the country and the best thing that the prime minister can do is replace him as soon as possible.” “With endless interviews you do not conduct proud negotiation.”“Greece is desperately isolated, it is alone. [Varoufakis’] proposals range between being unclear to ridiculous, provoking laughter when we talk about wiring up tourists to clamp down on tax evasion.And all the while the country is being driven to recession and revenues are tragically behind.”“He doesn’t know what he is talking about.” 8.56am GMT Greece’s bank shares are falling sharply in early trading in Athens, as the threat of a referendum hits confidence.The main Athens index has fallen by 3.5%, with bank shares among the big fallers. Piraeus Bank has shed 6.5%, and National Bank of Greece is down 6.3%.#Greece gives the Eurozone party pooper: FTSE Greek banking index starts 5.5% lower to the week. pic.twitter.com/g1jZkPJ154 8.44am GMT Bloomberg is reporting that the ECB has made its first purchase of eurozone government debt, under its new quantitative easing programme.And they’ve started by snaffling up some German bunds, according to traders.Jawohl! *ECB SAID TO BEGIN BUYING GERMAN GOVERNMENT BONDS IN QE PLAN#Eurozone bonds rally on QE day: Germany's 10yr bund yields drop to 0.38, 10yr BTP's to 1.3%, Spain's 10yr to 1.28%. pic.twitter.com/4BT8YyGh8V 8.37am GMT Europe’s stock markets have all fallen in early trading:Unless data deteriorate, the rate rises start in June. 8.28am GMT One of Britain’s best-performing fund managers has weighed in on the eurozone crisis, arguing that the single currency isn’t viable.Neil Woodford told the BBC that the eurozone was “fundamentally flawed”, and “probably” not viable in the long term.“In a very simple sense pretending that Greece was Germany is a fundamental error.Having the same interest rate, the same monetary policy for two economies that are so different seemed to me to be a fundamentally flawed assumption right at the start of the project. 8.11am GMT The agenda for this afternoon’s eurogroup meeting, which starts at 2.30pm GMT, is online here.The Eurogroup will discuss the next steps following the decision to extend the financial assistance to Greece by up to four months beyond its original expiry date of 28 February 2015. The political agreement on the extension was taken by the Eurogroup on 24 February and later approved by a number of national parliaments in the euro area and by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which provides the assistance. The formal decision on the extension was taken on 27 February. The Eurogroup will be given an update on the ongoing 6th review of the macroeconomic adjustment programme in Cyprus. One of the requirements of the programme is the implementation of the an effective foreclosure framework, which would allow banks to manage their bad loans and improve lending to the real economy. 8.03am GMT Speaking of Germany.... its economy may not be quite as vibrant as we thought.New data shows that German exports fell by 2.1% month-on-month in January. That’s the biggest fall since last August and worse than economist expected, suggesting the weak euro isn’t helping as much as we thought.Weaker-than-expected German exports, down 2.1% MoM. Well, at least the infamous German trade surplus narrowed, to EUR16bn. 8.01am GMT The prospect of a Greek referendum might make the European Central Bank wary of offering more emergency support to its banking sector. As Dan Davies of Frontline Analysts put it:if Syriza are floating the idea of exit referendums, they kind of lose the right to complain about anyone else threatening bank liquidity 7.50am GMT Yanis Varoufakis’s suggestion that Greece could hold a referendum over its reform plans has been slapped down by Germany’s deputy finance minister. Steffen Kampeter warned this morning that any referendum would simply slow down Greece’s reform drive. He also predicted little progress at today eurogroup meeting.Germany’s deputy finance minister said on Monday that he did not expect concrete dedcisions on Greece to be taken at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later in the day because they are still waiting for more financial details on Greek reform plans.“I don’t expect any substantial decisions by the Eurogroup this evening,” Steffen Kampeter told German radio in an interview.#Germany DepFinMin does not expect concrete Eurogroup decision on #Greece; Referendum wd only lead to a delay in reform implementation ~RTRS 7.43am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.“We are not attached to our posts. If needed, if we encounter implacability, we will resort to the Greek people either through elections or a referendum.”A fine morning to start #QE? pic.twitter.com/3RrT1IC37O Continue reading...
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