Dombrovskis: We are examining a plan-B in case talks break down
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How the world sees Greece
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Greek DM Kammenos says ENOUGH!
They want to crush us says Kammenos
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Some Greeks line up for 60 Euros a day. Others queue for 500 thousand Euros! (pics)
Greeks who pay half a million to buy in London!
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Alexis Tsipras pledged to end austerity. And now he is asked to sign up for more
Faced with lending conditions so severe that one wonders if Germany intends it to leave the euro of its own accord, Greece and its PM are facing a terrible choiceIt comes down to this: Greece has until Wednesday to pass into law draconian new austerity measures or leave the single currency. Months of fruitless talks, all the midnight oil burned in the seemingly never-ending cycle of summits, have ended with a simple message to Alexis Tsipras and his leftwing government: stay on our terms or walk. You decide.It’s a terrible choice for Tsipras. The conditions being attached to a third Greek bailout are beyond harsh. There will have to be tax increases, pension reforms, privatisation and spending cuts previously rejected by Athens, all overseen by the troika of the European Central Bank, the European commission and the International Monetary Fund. Related: Greek crisis: surrender fiscal sovereignty in return for bailout, Merkel tells Tsipras Related: Eurozone crisis: which countries are for or against Grexit Continue reading...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |
'Our children will grow up in a destroyed country' – Greeks fear for the future
Amid poverty and anger, many have put life on hold while Europe’s leaders decide whether to offer the bailout Greece needs to stay in the euroIn the searing heat of a summer Sunday, Greece waited in resignation for finance ministers half a continent away to decide on a rescue package most thought would bring more humiliation for themselves and their country.“I am old and uneducated but I know that when I was a kid I was proud to say I am Greek. I want the same thing for future generations,” said Charalabos Nikolaou, a 65-year-old selling snacks at a beach just outside the city. “But now the Europeans treat us like animals and our children will grow up in a destroyed country as prisoners, not citizens.”Its a difficult situation. I want to stay in the euro but with jobs for all Greeks Related: Greeks resigned to a hard, bitter future whatever deal is reached with Europe Continue reading...
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Greek debt crisis: Alexis Tsipras given ultimatum
… a temporary Greek exit from the euro – which would allow Greece to … to recapitalise Greek banks, is significantly higher than €53.5bn Greece had … , the situation in Greece itself is becoming critical. Greek banks have now …
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Boris Johnson: Greece must rediscover the spirit of Marathon to burst its euro shackles
… should be “capacity-building and depoliticizing Greek administrative tasks under hospices (sic … the economic government of Greece, or we kick Greece out of the … for the things that made Greece great, to burst the shackles …
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Eurozone split over Grexit ultimatum plan as Greeks says they are being 'crushed'
… still the man fighting the Greek cause. #Greece considers #Eurogroup draft as … HOLLANDE WAS MORE SUPPORTIVE OF GREECE: GREEK OFFICIAL -bbg— Myles Udland (@MylesUdland … and France's Sapin #Greece— Kathimerini English (@ekathimerini) July 12, 2015 …
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'Kindergarten' as weary euro ministers divide over Greece
Such was the "tough, even violent" atmosphere, in the words of one participant, that after an overnight break the German and French finance chiefs, Wolfgang Schaeuble and Michel Sapin, sat down to clear the air between them before resuming on Sunday. Schaeuble also crossed swords with ECB governor Mario Draghi, snapping at the Italian central banker "I'm not stupid!" "It was crazy, a kindergarten," said a source describing the overall course of nine hours of talks on Saturday among weary ministers attending their sixth emergency Eurogroup in three weeks. "Bad emotions have completely taken over." Schaeuble and others seemed to favour a "Grexit", another participant said.
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Europe asks Greece to climb Mount Everest. By Wednesday.
If Greece accedes, between 82 and 86 billion euros would be provided, mostly to reschedule and repay existing debts to European institutions. What are the current demands from the Eurogroup (the eurozone finance ministers) to Greece's parliament, with a supposed deadline of about 3pm eastern US time Wednesday?
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Greece's Tsipras set to expel Syriza rebels as bailout votes loom
By Renee Maltezou and James Mackenzie BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to begin a bruising week by clearing out party rebels opposed to an austerity package that will have to go through parliament within days, people close to the government say. The revolt saw 17 deputies from the government benches withhold support in a vote to authorise bailout negotiations, leaving Tsipras reliant on opposition parties to pass the measure. Dealing with the consequences of that revolt will provide a clear signal of how determined Tsipras will be in pushing through the reforms European partners are demanding.
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The Latest: Tsipras wants deal to save banks, official
BRUSSELS (AP) — The latest from Greece's financial crisis (all times local):
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The Latest: US encouraged by reports of Greek talks progress
BRUSSELS (AP) — The latest from Greece's financial crisis (all times local):
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Greek crisis: surrender fiscal sovereignty in return for bailout, Merkel tells Tsipras
German and French leaders press Greek leader for guarantees over austerity measures in what an EU official describes as ‘extensive mental waterboarding’European leaders have confronted the Greek government with a draconian package of austerity measures entailing a surrender of fiscal sovereignty as the price of avoiding financial collapse and being ejected from the single currency bloc.A weekend of high tension that threatened to break Europe in two climaxed on Sunday night at a summit of eurozone leaders in Brussels where the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and President François Hollande of France presented Greece’s radical prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, with an ultimatum. Continue reading...
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BREAKING NEWS: Lenders Give Greece Until Wednesday; Temporary Grexit a Possible Option
ATHENS – With the Eurogroup summit canceled with no deal on Sunday, July 12, and Greece on the brink of a Grexit, the lenders have given Greece the opportunity to pass in Parliament 12 measures in order to show good faith in terms of their commitment to reform. Even if they do not pass the […] The post BREAKING NEWS: Lenders Give Greece Until Wednesday; Temporary Grexit a Possible Option appeared first on The National Herald.
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The countries happy to see Greece leave the eurozone
With 19 members in the eurozone to please, keeping all of them happy has been a challenge. The breakdown of trust between Greece and the rest of the eurozone is clear. But some countries have taken a harder stance than others. Here’s a look at the ...
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This Is the Document on Greece the Eurogroup Presented to EU Summit
A list of reforms some of which must be legislated by Wednesday in the Greek Parliament was submitted to the European Union by Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem. The Greek side has called the text a “monster” as it contains some harsh austerity measures and reforms that need to be implemented immediately as a condition for Greece receiving a third bailout package estimated at 74 to 90 million euros. Twelve of the reforms must be legislated by Wednesday in order for European partners to sit down on the negotiating table again. The Greek side is asking the European Central Bank to restart emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks on Monday so they open again. The 12 reforms to be legislated by July 15 (Wednesday) are the following: Streamlining of the VAT system and the broadening of the tax base to increase revenue; Upfront measures to improve long-term sustainability of the pension system as part of a comprehensive pension reform programme; The adoption of the Code of Civil Procedure, which is a major overhaul of procedures and arrangements for the civil justice system and can significantly accelerate the judicial process and reduce costs; The safeguarding of the full legal independence of ELSTAT; Full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, in particular by making the Fiscal Council operational before finalizing the MoU and introducing quasi-automatic spending cuts in case of deviations from ambitious primary surplus targets after seeking advice from the Fiscal Council and subject to prior approval of the institutions; The transposition of the BRRD at the latest within a week with support from the European Commission. Carry out ambitious pension reforms and specify policies to fully compensate for the fiscal impact of the Constitutional Court ruling on the 2012 pension reform and to implement the zero deficit clause or mutually agreeable alternative measures by October 2015; Adopt more ambitious product market reforms with a clear timetable for implementation of all OECD toolkit I recommendations, including Sunday trade, sales periods, pharmacy ownership, milk, bakeries, [over-the-counter pharmaceutical products in a next step], as well as for the opening of macro-critical closed professions (e.g. ferry transportation). On the follow-up of the OECD toolkit-II, manufacturing needs to be included in the prior action; On energy markets, proceed with the privatization of the electricity transmission network operator (ADMIE)[, unless replacement measures can be found that have equivalent effect on competition, as agreed by the institutions]; On labor markets, undertake rigorous reviews of collective bargaining, industrial action and collective dismissals in line with the timetable and the approach agreed with the institutions. [In addition, the Greek authorities shall modernize the legislative framework for collective dismissals, in line with best practice]. On the basis of these reviews, labor market policies should be aligned with international and European best practices, and should not involve a return to past policy settings which are not compatible with the goals of promoting sustainable and inclusive growth; Adopt the necessary steps to strengthen the financial sector, including decisive action on non-performing loans and measures to strengthen governance of the HFSF and the banks, in particular by eliminating any possibility for political interference especially in appointment processes; Representatives of the lending institutions will be in Athens to monitor the progress of the reforms. See the full text here.
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Stiglitz: Germany Not Showing Solidarity
Former World Bank Chief Economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, who had urged Greeks to vote No during the referendum, spoke out against Germany’s strategy toward Greece and Europe in the latest round of negotiations, in an interview with AFP while attending the United Nations’ international development financial summit in Ethiopia. “What has been demonstrated is a lack of solidarity by Germany. You cannot run a eurozone without a basic modicum of solidarity. It is really undermining the common sense of vision, the sense of common solidarity in Europe,” he said and added that Germany has delivered a blow to Europe. Earlier in the day German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the situation is very difficult at the moment. During Saturday’s Eurogroup meeting Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble submitted a proposal that gave Greece the options of either adopting further reforms or temporarily leaving the Eurozone. “Asking even more from Greece would be unconscionable. If the ECB allows Greek banks to open up and they renegotiate whatever agreement, then wounds can heal. But if they succeed in using this as a trick to get Greece out, I think the damage is going to be very very deep,” Stiglitz said. AFP reports that Stilgitz is backing an effort to establish an international tax agency within the UN to oversee multinational corporations tax activity. Western countries have not lent their support as of yet. European leaders and the West in general are criticizing Greece for failure to collect taxes,” he said and added “The West has created a framework for global tax avoidance… Here you have the advanced countries trying to undermine a global effort to stop tax avoidance. Can you have a better image of hypocrisy?”
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Tab for new Greek bailout could be $96 billion
Read full story for latest details.
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Sleeping on the streets of Athens
Greece is facing a humanitarian crisis, with unemployment and poverty rates rising.
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Trouble brews on EU doorstep over German plan to shut out Greece
Greece’s two biggest creditors are divided on whether to expel it from the eurozone, with France dismissing Germany’s talk of an ultimatumThe Greek crisis has pitted Athens against the rest of the eurozone. But Germany’s proposal for Greece to leave the euro has portended a deep split between two key creditors of the indebted country. France brusquely dismissed the German ultimatum, revealing the potential for a serious rift between Paris and Berlin should moves to kick Greece out of the single currency succeed. Continue reading...
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Do more to get more cash, Europe tells Greece
Greece still has more to prove before it can restore the trust of its fellow euro zone countries and get funds it desperately needs to stave off calamity, ...
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Eurozone leaders consider draft document as Greece seeks 3rd bailout
Greece moved closer on Sunday to a desperately needed deal with European creditors, which would stave off immediate financial collapse and the country's potential exit from the euro while imposing more hardship on its people.
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Greece crisis: Europe turns the screw
First, Germany put forward a proposal one could best describe as “back of envelope” for Greece to leave the Eurozone for five years. There is logic to it ...
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Greece crisis: Tense wait in Athens as crunch eurozone talks continue
Greek churchgoers on Sunday may well have been praying for a miracle. Their near-bankrupt country needs every bit of help it can get, with Athens in…
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Greece told it must restore trust to earn rescue
Eurozone leaders are telling Greece it has to restore trust by enacting key reforms before talks can open on a new financial rescue package to keep…
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German, Greek and French finance ministers begin meeting
#economy
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Eurozone sets Greece tough terms as euro exit looms
Eurozone leaders set Greece brutal take-it-or-leave-it conditions for a desperately needed bailout deal at a summit on Sunday as an exit from the single currency loomed ever larger.
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How The Olympics Rotted Greece
And here’s the obvious question: Should the International Olympic Committee shoulder some of the blame?
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Greece’s stopgap loans remain — for now
ECB’s €89bn emergency loans have kept lenders from collapse
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Eurozone crisis: which countries are for or against Grexit
With an emergency voting procedure potentially coming into play as eurozone splits widen, how do member states line up on the idea of expelling Greece?As emergency talks drag on, the prospect of Greece tumbling out of the currency union is dividing Europe like never before.After five years of battling to keep Greece in the eurozone, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is now warning that there cannot be a deal at any cost. A German government paper floated the idea of expelling Greece from the eurozone for at least five years. But France and Italy argue that Greece must be kept in the currency union, fearing Grexit would be a historic mistake that would damage the credibility of the entire European Union. Continue reading...
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The Guardian on the Greek negotiations: out in the cold or in but in chains
Whatever happens next, the Greek crisis has strained Europe to its limitsThe Greek crisis began like the proverbial cloud that was no bigger than a man’s hand and has grown into a perfect storm which has shaken Europe to its foundations. Regardless of the final outcome of the negotiations, what unfortunately can be said with certainty is that the union’s fault lines have all but burst under the pressure.Between France and Germany, between north and south and east and west in the union, and even within nations, there are now profound differences, only potential before, which it will take a long time to resolve. The past few days have seen Paris commit itself to keeping Greece in the euro and the union in a way which puts President François Hollande on a collision course with hawks in the German government, headed by the finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble. France’s mentoring of Greece as that country made its own final proposals did not seek an easy or soft arrangement, but nor did it envisage Greece’s reduction to the status of a debt colony, not too different from the conditions once imposed on Egypt and China in the imperial era, with foreigners in controlling positions in its economy. Continue reading...
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Faultlines on display at Greece showdown
Differing visions of a co-operative union or implementation of tougher rules had to be reconciled
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The Latest: Greek Orthodox Metropolitan on Hand for Pope
The Latest: Greek Orthodox metropolitan on hand for pope's events in South America
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Greece’s eurozone future still uncertain
France struggles to broker compromise as Berlin leads sceptics in fraught talks over €86bn bailout
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The Moment The Euro Became Reversible
By discussing giving Greece a "time-out" from the currency, the eurozone has taken a step into the unknown, writes Ed Conway.
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Greece 'Accepts Some Demands In Bailout Bid'
Athens apparently agrees to carry out "ambitious" reforms as it seeks a new eurozone bailout to prevent financial collapse.
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Greek crisis: Angela Merkel says there 'won't be an agreement at all costs' at Brussels summit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there "won't be an agreement at all costs" on a Greek bailout deal as eurozone leaders arrived for a summit in Brussels
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Draft text of Eurogroup’s proposals on Greek debt crisis
Euro zone leaders at a summit in Brussels were reviewing a draft proposal from their finance ministers on Sunday that sets out conditions for Greece to open negotiations on a bailout. The following is the draft of the paper, seen by Reuters. Phrases ...
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A 'Grexit' is officially on the table (GREK)
A "Grexit" is officially on the table. On Sunday, the latest draft from the Eurogroup outlining what Greece must do to restart negotiations with its European creditors on a new bailout surfaced. The Financial Times posted the full draft here and the most important part is the end. "In case no agreement could be reached," the document reads, "Greece should be offered swift negotiations on a time-out from the euro area, with possible debt restructuring." In other words, we are now officially talking about a Grexit. On Twitter, Karl Whelan, an economics professor at the University of Dublin who formerly served on the Federal Reserve board and as an economist at the Central Bank of Ireland, noted that this sentence about a "time-out" from the euro is a "huge sweetener designed to boost support for Grexit in Greece." Whelan added that the, "German strategy appears to be to set conditions that won't be met and force Grexit." And as former UBS chief economist George Magnus noted on Twitter, a "time-out" is just an illusion: once you're out, you're out. Either things will go well for the Greek economy outside the euro so they won't need to rejoin, or things will go terribly, in which case the euro won't want them back. On Saturday, a paper presented at the Eurogroup — a collection of the 19 euro zone finance ministers — by German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble outlined a plan for Greece to put 50 billion of state assets to an external fund and to leave the euro for 5 years. But given Germany is seen as the biggest hardliner in negotiations, this suggestion was seen at least as something the broader Eurogroup would not necessarily want to go along with. Now, however, it looks like something similar is at least being contemplated if Greece cannot get the latest demands from its creditors through its parliament by Wednesday. And what's more, getting parliament to sign off on these reforms only allows Greece to come back to the negotiating table its creditors; this would not clinch Greece a new bailout. And to see how quickly things have gotten away from Greece, the plan that Greece presented on Saturday — which has now been rejected — was more or less the same plan that Greek voters rejected in a referendum last Sunday. So basically Greece had a plan with its creditors but walked away from the plan, instead putting it to the Greek people in a vote. That vote came down in favor of Greece's government rejecting the plan. Instead, Greece re-offered the same plan to its creditors. And now these creditors have rejected the plan. Of course, with the situation in Greece getting more dire, the Eurogroup memo adds that, "The Eurogroup takes not of the urgent financing needs of Greece which underline the need for very swift profess in reaching a decision on a new [Memorandum of Understanding]: these are estimated to amount to EUR 7bn by 20 July and an additional 5bn by mid August." Greece owes the European Central Bank 3.5 billion euros on July 20 and an another 3.2 billion on August 14. Looming over this, however, is that Greek banks have been and remain closed, and the Eurogroup draft acknowledges that a buffer of up to 25 billion euros could be needed to recapitalize Greek banks. But as the Eurogroup draft makes clear, there will not be haircuts on Greek debt — or Greece's creditors getting back less than 100 cents on the dollar — as long as Greece is a member of the euro. In exchange for promising to make its creditors whole over time, Greece has agreed to seemingly endless reform measures since its first bailout in 2010 and this latest drama is in a large sense more of the same. What has been refused at every turn is any suggestion that Greek creditors would ever have to take a haircut, and this latest draft only discusses those haircuts as a possibility were Greece to leave the euro. Writing in The Guardian on Friday, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis argued that the entire process outlined by Greece's creditors — austerity, reforms, budget surpluses, and so on — did not add up, mathematically. And Varoufakis recalled that at his first Eurogroup meeting, he was told by Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem that there would be no debt restructuring (i.e. haircuts) under any circumstances. Unless, it seems, those circumstances involve Greece leaving the euro. SEE ALSO: Greece got nothing Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 mind-blowing facts about Greece's economy
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Eurogroup recommends to exclude Greece from Eurozone
The Eurogroup has ruled out possible writing off Greece’s debts
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT tass.ru |
Eurogroup proposal on Greece
Square brackets denoted phrases not yet agreed by all 19 states: "The Eurogroup stresses the crucial need to rebuild trust with the Greek authorities as a pre-requisite for a possible future agreement on a new ESM programme. In this context, the ownership by the Greek authorities is key, and successful implementation should follow policy commitments. The Eurogroup expects continued full involvement of the IMF [and welcomes the intention by Greece to seek full involvement of the IMF in the monitoring and financing of the programme.] This is a precondition for the Eurogroup to agree on a new ESM programme.
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'All Sides Must Want a Deal': Greek Prime Minister Tells Washington
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that a cash-for-reform deal to keep Greece in the euro zone would need the commitment of all sides, a Greek official said, ahe...
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Greek Bailout Needs Set at 82-86 Bilion Euros: Eurozone Document
A new bailout for Greece could amount to between 82 and 86 billion euros, according to a eurozone document drafted Sunday and seen by AFP.
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German president Gauck: Cannot image Eurozone without Greece
Interview to be broadcast on ZDF on Sunday evening
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A dynamic summer duo: Intl philosophy conference in… Greece
Forget worries of Grexit and euro crisis, global philosophy comes to one of Greece's most famous resorts
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Greek debt crisis: Eurozone leaders mull demands as Athens imposes new laws and commits to privatisation
Eurozone leaders are considering demands that Athens enact reforms to re-establish 'lost trust' before talks on a new rescue package can get under way.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.independent.co.uk |
Greek debt crisis: Athenians struggle on with sun, sea, olives and despair
A mix of weariness and disillusionment had settled on the Greek capital by Sunday afternoon as it sweltered in the midsummer heat and people waited for their fate to be settled by politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels.
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