How the world sees Greece
… over the next few months.” Greece has debt-service obligations of about … have every interest to support Greece.” Dijsselbloem said completing the review … resulting reward for Greece. “Once the institutions and the Greeks have come …
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com |
[refugeeraft]Five lifeguards from Spain have been arrested in Greece on suspicion of people trafficking refugees. "A preliminary investigation has been opened," a Greek coastguard spokeswoman said, adding that the suspects were likely to be charged with "attempting to facilitate the entry of illegal migrants."
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT algarvedailynews.com |
At Germany's insistence, IMF will help to oversee reform package.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.politico.eu |
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Several thousand lawyers, many wearing ties or high heels, have marched to parliament to protest a planned overhaul of the pension system by the country’s leftwing government. Chanting “No retreat till we’re vindicated,” the lawyers came from associations around Greece that are calling on the government to scrap key provisions outlined […] The post Greek Lawyers Protest Planned Pension Revamp appeared first on The National Herald.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |
Greece’s creditors are expected to start talking soon over an issue that has been looming over the eurozone since 2010: cutting the country’s mountainous debt burden. Greece already sliced its debts to private lenders through a bond swap in 2012.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wsj.com |
Some euro zone officials expect Greece to get creditors' approval on reforms as soon as February, but others, such as euro zone finance ministers' chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, say the process may take months rather than weeks. The reform package includes ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thefiscaltimes.com |
“WE NEED more Quixotes,” urged Pablo Iglesias, the mass before him hanging on his every word: “We are dreamers, but we take our dreams very seriously.” The rally in Madrid’s central square last January was a milestone in the transformation of Podemos from a gang of professors into the movement that it is today. Last month it polled 21% in Spain’s general election. Like their counterparts in Greece’s Syriza, Mr Iglesias and his comrades take inspiration from the late Ernesto Laclau, an Argentine sociologist at Essex University. He wrote that lefties should embrace populism; combining charismatic, top-down leadership with bottom-up assemblies, marches and occupations. To know how much Podemos inspires Jeremy Corbyn is to understand the Labour Party today. Rare is the senior Corbynite who has not visited Madrid. Last summer Mr Iglesias endorsed his British admirer, who had hailed the Spaniard’s “new way of doing politics”. Seumas Milne, now Labour’s head of strategy (and, long ago, a trainee at this newspaper, where he learned of capitalism’s wickedness), wrote of the similarities between the two men. Momentum, the group that agitates for Mr Corbyn in...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.economist.com |
“Little England” will be the opening film at Hellas Filmbox Berlin, the first Greek film festival to take place in Berlin, Germany. The festival will welcome its cinephile audience at Babylon cinema from January 21 to 24, 2016, promising an ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT eu.greekreporter.com |
Three people already lost their lives due to a mutated flu virus strain (H3N2), while another 31 are currently being hospitalized in Intensive Care Units across Greece, stated the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO). The Center’s ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Greece "fully accepted" on Thursday that the hardline IMF take a role in its massive third bailout, backing away from one of the last battle lines splitting Athens and its eurozone creditors. Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem announced the decision at ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.finance.yahoo.com |
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A prosecutor on the Greek island of Lesbos has brought criminal charges against five members of international charities for allegedly trying to help migrants illegally enter Greece. The three Spanish and two Danish nationals face a ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wlox.com |
President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos highlighted on Thursday the need for all countries to join forces and meet the global challenges created by the refugee crisis and terrorism, in statements after his meeting with Russian Duma ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
[Angela Merkel]REUTERS/Thomas Peter Geopolitical expert George Friedman called Germany “a vulnerable, insecure country” in a bubble that could pop anytime. Speaking in a Mauldin Economics video interview from Amsterdam, Friedman said the Cologne New Year’s Eve incident confirmed the worst fears of native Europeans: that rare Islamist terrorism incidents will become routine hooliganism. Germany is caught in a three-way vortex, according to Friedman. Large numbers of immigrants are a huge social challenge in its insular culture. Furthermore, Germany is tied to a dysfunctional currency and free trade zone whose southern tier is in Depression-like conditions. Unemployment is over 20% in much of Spain, Italy, Greece, and the Balkan states. Formerly Germany’s best customers, these countries are now angry stepchildren. Friedman sees a more serious problem, too. Exports account for around 50% of German GDP. No other developed nation depends on exports so much. Germany can’t possibly sustain this, but losing exports will mean losing jobs with unemployment already high for Muslim immigrants and fellow Europeans. Like China, Germany needs to shift from exports to internal consumption. This would be difficult even with a stable social order. Without one, the situation is potentially explosive. Watch the full interview (5:43) below. Youtube Embed: http://www.youtube.com/embed/I1duh7X76XU Width: 560px Height: 315px SUBSCRIBE TO _THIS WEEK IN GEOPOLITICS_ George Friedman provides unbiased assessment of the global outlook—whether demographic, technological, cultural, geopolitical, or military—in his free publication This Week in Geopolitics. Subscribe now and get an in-depth view of the forces that will drive events and investors in the next year, decade, or even a century from now. NOW WATCH: Here's what a hiring manager scans for when reviewing résumés
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
[David Rosenberg]Screenshot via Bloomberg TV My good friend David Rosenberg, Chief Economist at Gluskin Sheff, has long been one of the biggest draws at my annual Strategic Investment Conference. I had always taken him for a “permabear.” Then three years ago, Dave shocked us by announcing in no uncertain terms that he had turned decidedly bullish. His call was of course spot on. In Breakfast with Dave, David recently published a brilliant outlook for 2016 as he describes, “a year of transition.” He asks, “What is bugging the market?” And then he simply tells us—with the clarity and conviction that very few people in our business have. I think David is very spot on again. So I’ve asked him to let me excerpt the outlook and share it with you. You are welcome. WHAT IS REALLY BUGGING THE MARKET? _By David Rosenberg, Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. Excerpted from_ Breakfast with Dave. The overriding problem for the equity market remains one of valuation—not that we are in bubble territory, but more that the stock market is still quite expensive. The price action of 2015 failed to resolve one thing, which was to correct the excess valuations that held back the market last year as it likely will this year too. The trailing price-to-diluted earnings multiple is 21.4x versus the historical norm of 17.5x, while the forward multiple on the S&P 500 is 16.8x, and again, the mean has been closer to 14.4x. The Shiller cyclically-adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio is 26 and the long-run average is 23. Capish? So here we have the stock market, according to many measures, trading close to three multiple points above historical norms. Like the personal savings rate in the macro world, the price-earnings multiple in the financial world is a behavioral aggregate—a signpost of confidence, if you will. A lower savings rate is symbolic of higher confidence over income or wealth prospects. Similarly, a higher multiple is a characteristic of rising investor confidence over the outlook for market returns. The problem is that we do not have the clarity, certainty, or visibility across the globe—whether it comes to policy, oil prices, regional conflicts, or China—to warrant multiples being this far above the norm, if at all. So, 2016 is likely going to be a year of transition and one where uncertainty is going to dominate the macro and investing landscape. OIL PRICES The fact that oil prices could not catch much of a bid given the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia should have the bulls shaking their heads. The reality is that supply is an impediment at a time when there has still not been a dent in US production and OPEC has been pumping out 32 million barrels per day (far above its quota) for seven months in a row. GEOPOLITICS The severing of diplomatic ties between Iraq and Saudi Arabia could be problematic for investors’ risk tolerance if the situation turns worse, as in some form of military response. At a minimum, it complicates efforts to resolve the internal crisis in Syria. It also further exposes the failure of US foreign policy under the current administration (underscored by the surge in Aerospace & Defense sector stocks last year). [JANET YELLEN]SCREENSHOT VIA BLOOMBERG TVTHE FED Several monetary policy makers, including San Francisco Fed President John Williams (who is reportedly close to Janet Yellen), struck a hawkish tone at the regional bank’s symposium. Also, Cleveland’s Fed President, Loretta Mester, sounds very hawkish and has openly argued that the Fed should turn a blind eye to the stock market (the rotated voting membership this year has a slightly more hawkish tilt than it did in 2015). Finally, there was nothing out of Fed vice chair Stanley Fischer to suggest that the Fed is going to stop at one or two hikes. The Fed has never hiked rates with the ISM manufacturing moving below 50, let alone for two straight months now. This is a transition, first away from quantitative easing, and now away from zero interest rate policy, but with a twist since the central bank has never tightened policy with manufacturing under so much duress. EARNINGS The consensus is looking for around 8% S&P 500 earnings growth this year and yet the analysts have dragged the earnings revision ratio down to the lowest levels in eight months (to 0.55x for the three-month ratio in December from 0.58x in November and 0.74x in October—declining now for four months running). Another transition will be what rising wage growth will do to profit margins—a case of what is good for Main Street may not be so good for Wall Street (call it mean reversion from the past six years of 18% equity returns and a mere 2% growth trend in the broad economy). LOCAL POLITICS Another transition this year is the US election in November and if Byron Wien is prescient on his “surprise” pick for the Republican nominee being Ted Cruz, and the Democrats take over control of the Senate—well, it will likely be tough to build a positive market view from such heightened uncertainty. As well, Donald Trump is not going out with a whimper either—there may be blue-collar voters who would be happy if he became President, but I’m not sure the stock market would take it well (ditto for Ted Cruz with a Democratic-controlled Senate ushering in more years of gridlock). CHINA While I am personally not bearish on the economy, it remains a “show me” situation and many pundits are becoming concerned over possible capital flight from any additional yuan devaluation. Also, signs that the rebalancing from fixed investment and industrialization towards the consumer and services may not be going as smoothly as earlier believed are unnerving investors too. [GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL AT THE CHANCELLERY IN BERLIN, GERMANY, JANUARY 7, 2016. REUTERS/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE ]SCREENSHOT VIA BLOOMBERG TVEUROPE There is uncertainty over how the influx of migrants will affect Germany; how the UK will vote on the European Union referendum; signs of foot dragging from Greece on pension reforms; and secessionist pressures surfacing in Spain. The European Central Bank is at or near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to monetary easing at this point—the laws of diminishing returns may be setting in. That said, some of the recent data flow has been encouraging. JAPAN Uncertainty in Japan regarding the efficacy of Abenomics and whether the Bank of Japan has done enough, notwithstanding how aggressive it has been, to fully thwart the ongoing deflation threat. But at least the latest recession last year managed to get revised away. US GROWTH While autos, housing, and consumer spending are doing fine, exports, commercial construction, transports, and manufacturing clearly are not. The Atlanta Fed’s GDP “nowcast” is tracking growth for Q4 at a 0.7% annual rate—down from 1.3% just a week ago and 2.0% back in mid-December—which is a sharp downdraft in a short time frame. Manufacturing may only be 10% of GDP, but it does touch a lot of other ancillary sectors and only 6 of 18 industries polled by the Institute for Supply Management posted any growth at all in December. INFLATION This comes back to the Fed and maybe the bond market, but if there is complacency out there—whether in the bull or bear camp—it is that inflation is dead. It is not. It may be comatose, but not dead. I sense that 2016 will bring with it more price gains in rents, big accelerations in health services, health care premiums, and wages. Core service sector inflation is already approaching 3%—imagine if the dollar stopped going up and commodities stopped going down, as such preventing goods sector deflation from acting as an antidote? BOTTOM LINE As I said on CNBC yesterday (yes, Joe, I am also a strategist), I am not looking for a down year for the S&P 500, but I am cautious over the near term (flat is the new up). Since I do not see a recession, and you only get successive down years in a recession, I doubt therefore that we will suffer the ignominy of another retreat in the S&P 500. That said, after seeing returns more than triple this cycle and price-to-earnings multiples above historical norms, it goes without saying that we have borrowed returns from the future in a very major way. As was the case in 2015, if you are buying the market, be happy with the reinvested dividend comprising much, if not all, of your total return. Again, like 2015, the key to doing better than that will involve agility, opportunism, more discipline than normal (as in raising and deploying cash at the appropriate times), and having concentrated positions in the right sectors (such as being long the US consumer last year which would have garnered an 8%+ return). In general, anticipate an environment where active will beat passive investment management. We had a taste of this in 2015; expect much more of the same this year. As for the economy, I think we will be just fine and there will be more of the “neither boom nor bust” cycle. Consumer spending in real terms is up 3.2% on a YoY basis. New home sales are up 9%. Housing starts by 16% and both auto sales and production are up 6%. So while still soft overall, keeping in mind how tight monetary policy is given the dollar strength, the restraint in financial conditions from the surge in high-yield credit spreads, and a still restrictive fiscal stance, the economy is doing all right. The key will be when net exports finally stabilize and at what point the business sector will feel more comfortable over the outlook to start expanding. Not until these two areas start to gain momentum can we talk about the US economy, in aggregate, reaching or exceeding a 3% annual pace. Now that would probably justify multiples closer to where we are today, but is a trend that has remained elusive for a long, long time—we have not seen a “three-handle” on real GDP growth since 2005. Is that you, Godot? I mentioned the high-yield corporate bond market so I will finish off there. This is where the best risk-reward opportunities may well reside for the coming year. HEAR DAVE’S LATEST THOUGHTS IN PERSON AT THIS YEAR’S STRATEGIC INVESTMENT CONFERENCE Dave will once again kick things off at this year’s SIC, and you’ll want to be there to catch his every valuable, investable word. Register here while there is still an early-registrant discount. NOW WATCH: This is how you're compromising your identity on Facebook
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
[ISIS Islamic State]Reuters The Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project for the American Enterprise Institute held a planning exercise (PLANEX) in late 2015 and early 2016 to look at the threats facing the West from Salafi-jihadi groups, particularly the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) and Al Qaeda. During the week of January 18, ISW and CTP will release the first of a series of reports detailing the findings from this PLANEX. This article explains the overall goals of the exercise and how it looked at defining US grand strategic objectives, as well as how the threat facing the US and the West has been persistently mischaracterized in a very fundamental way. The next article on _Business Insider_ will focus on the objectives of the various players as well as an examination of the enemy and possible courses of action. INTRODUCTION [Paris attack]Reuters The terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and San Bernardino, California have focused the West again on the threat that militant Salafi-jihadist groups pose to its security and way of life. They have provoked France, Britain, and the United States to increase their military efforts against the ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They have demonstrated the fallacy of the idea that ISIS can be indefinitely contained within Iraq and Syria, the Middle East, or even the Muslim-majority world. They have revealed the inadequacy of current strategies to address the threat. These tragedies have thus created space for a serious discussion about the nature of the threat and the responses required to counter it. [ISISAlqaedaworldmap]Reuters PERVASIVE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE CHALLENGE The current discussion of these attacks is cementing fundamental mischaracterizations of the national security problem, however. It presupposes that there is a single war that ISIS is the only enemy or adversary in that war, and that defeating ISIS in Syria and Iraq is tantamount to defeating the organization as a whole. It has given superficial credibility to Vladimir Putin’s call for a grand coalition of all major powers to unite in the fight against ISIS. It largely ignores al Qaeda, including its powerful franchise in Syria called Jabhat al Nusra (JN). It also downplays the importance of the sectarian war that has engulfed the Middle East. [Syrian refugees struggle to enter Macedonia through a narrow border crossing as Macedonian policemen try to shut a metal gate near to the Greek village of Idomeni December 4, 2015. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis ]Reuters That sectarian conflict is one of the primary drivers of the massive flow of refugees now undermining the integration of Europe, facilitating the destruction of multiple states in the Middle East such as Iraq and Yemen, and encouraging the mobilization and radicalization of global Sunni and Shi’a populations in the face of what increasing numbers of people perceive to be existential threats. Any effort to counter the al Qaeda and ISIS threats will fail as long as conditions on the ground do not change. The media’s and policymakers’ single-minded focus on ISIS encourages Americans to overlook the fundamental incompatibility of Iranian and Russian regional and global objectives with those of the US and Europe. Such a narrow lens ignores Russia’s revisionist grand strategy that links Moscow’s actions in Syria with its continued war in Ukraine, its subversive activities in the Baltics, and its mounting global military aggression. It simplifies an extremely complicated set of multi-actor, multi-theater conflicts into a problem that can be solved through counter-terrorism-targeting and homeland security measures. It guarantees that the West will not design or execute a coherent strategy to secure its vital national interests. [San Bernardino shooting]Reuters The San Bernardino attack in California adds superficial validity to the idea that the US must turn inward to secure itself. It brings to the fore domestic issues such as gun control, law enforcement procedures, immigration policies, religious freedom, profiling, and many others. Each issue is important in its own right, and finding the right balance among competing valid concerns is essential to enhance America’s ability to protect its citizens without compromising the civil liberties and individual rights that are the bedrock of our society. There are multiple, separate wars ongoing at the start of 2016. Many share belligerents. The war in Yemen stems from a geopolitical struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia that has been gravely exacerbated by the ongoing war in Syria. A broader regional war in the Middle East may emerge as the Saudi-Iranian conflict escalates. Russia’s establishment of an airbase in Syria close to Turkey’s border on NATO’s southern flank connects the war in Syria with that in Ukraine, as both challenge the brittle alliance. The United States must prevent the separate wars from merging into a general war, involving great powers, regional powers, and non-state actors. Such a situation may not be imminent, but it is possible and can stress the United States beyond anything we now see in January 2016. GOALS AND METHODS OF THIS PLANNING EXERCISES [US Syria]Reuters The exercise began with a complete re-consideration of the vital national security interests and objectives of the United States, its partners, rivals such as Russia and Iran, and its enemies including both ISIS and al Qaeda. The exercise also considered the nature of the current international environment in which many factors are undermining global order, stability, and international laws and norms. It evaluated the threat posed by the persistence of safe havens for al Qaeda and ISIS in Iraq and Syria as distinct from the individual cells of those organizations planning and conducting attacks in the West. The group then designed and tested many possible courses of action to mitigate and, if possible, eliminate these conditions and the threats. None of the courses of action we examined, including a continuation or minor modification of the current strategy, achieved American national security objectives. The planning team is therefore continuing to examine other approaches to the problem and re-evaluating its assessments as circumstances on the ground change. [U.S. President Barack Obama in Omaha, Nebraska, January 13, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria]Reuters The planning group will thus present its results in several publications. This first paper examines American global grand strategic objectives as they relate to the threat from ISIS and al Qaeda. It also considers the nature of those groups from ideological, structural, and military perspectives and evaluates the relationship between the territory and resources those groups possess in the Muslim world and the direct violent threat they pose within the United States and Europe. The second paper will present the group’s assessment of American strategic objectives in Iraq and Syria in light of the issues considered in this first report. It will also describe the interests and objectives of Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia in Iraq and Syria as they relate to the overall goals of those states. It will then articulate the minimum conditions that a political-military resolution of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria must meet in order to meet US national security requirements. The group will publish one or more additional papers describing in detail the specific courses of action we have evaluated, assessments of their results and whether or not they would achieve core American security objectives, the risks they pose to those objectives, and approaches to mitigating those risks. These results will most likely appear in February 2016. NOW WATCH: In 2000, the CIA predicted what the world would be like in 2015 — here’s what it got right and wrong
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras revealed today that his government is trying to convince the country’s international creditors, who essentially make all decisions about the way Greece should run its affairs, of the need to proceed with job openings ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
… ;No business, Greek or foreign, can blackmail the Greek state, ignore the … Wall Street Journal adds, "Greece's ruling Syriza party … tour with three people from Greece to highlight their concerns about …
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com |
Ghana midfielder Michael Essien has been ruled out of Panathinaikos clash against PAS Giannina in the Greek Cup tonight due to minor injury. Manager Andrea Stramaccioni has left out the 33-year-old as a precautionary measure after he suffered ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT ghanasoccernet.com |
Ghana midfielder Michael Essien has been ruled out of Panathinaikos clash against PAS Giannina in the Greek Cup tonight due to minor injury. Manager Andrea Stramaccioni has left out the 33-year-old as a precautionary measure after he suffered ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT ghanasoccernet.com |
The case of a British Muslim who set up a temporary mosque on the Greek island of Lesvos for the religious needs of the refugees stranded there remains something of a mystery, but the country’s authorities are investigating the case with due diligence.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
The Athens Stock Exchange didn΄t show any signs of resistance to the pressure it has been taking since the opening, posting early losses of 2,32% ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT english.capital.gr |
Greece's finance minister tells Handelsblatt he came to Berlin with an “impressive list” of the reforms that Athens has undertaken since nearly tumbling ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT global.handelsblatt.com |
For many members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council at MSU, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is more than just a day of remembrance but a day of ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT statenews.com |
The classic GREEK tragedy that's been updated to present day is brought to a Northern Michigan stage at the InsideOut Gallery for a Traverse City event ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT mynorth.com |
LOCALS ON THE ISLAND of Patmos, a craggy GREEK beauty in the northern Dodecanese, have long embraced a custom of passing home ownership ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wsj.com |
GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is seeking to get a grip on pension outlays that soared to 17 percent of Greece's gross domestic product last year ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bloomberg.com |
Brussels (dpa) - Eurozone finance ministers welcomed Thursday a controversial pension reform proposed by the GREEK government, hours after ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT en.europeonline-magazine.eu |
horse-skeleton A burial site containing an unusually well-preserved horse skeleton, intact even down to the hooves, was among the findings ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
The goal of TAP is to diversify sources of gas supplies to European countries, which is important for ensuring energy security of GREECE and the entire ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT en.trend.az |
WASHINGTON Jan 14 The IMF remains fully engaged with GREECE but the exact nature of its role depends on upcoming discussions with authorities ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.reuters.com |
Athens, January 14, 2015/Independent Balkan News Agency By Olga Mavrou Optimistic about the Cyprus issue was the British Secretary of State Philip Hammond (photo) who is visiting Greece and who is to visit also Turkey. “I am optimistic that we are close to significant progress in resolving this conflict,” he said. “What we want is […]
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.balkaneu.com |
Doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals took it to the streets in Athens, Greece, on Thursday, protesting against the government’s plan for social security fund reforms. Thousands of professionals assembled outside the Labor Ministry ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Syriza's rise to power was accompanied by popular hopes for reform on all fronts: economic, environmental, political and cultural. Alas, none of the hopes became reality. In fact, instead of spurring positive social change, the governing Syriza party has ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.truth-out.org |
Greek Alternate Minister for European Affairs Nikos Xydakis hailed his country’s role in saving the lives of refugees in 2015, saying it “saved Europe’s honor,” following a Wednesday meeting with German State Minister for Europe Michael Roth in Berlin.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
[angela merkel] Last year, everyone was worried about a "Grexit," and some folks have started mumbling about a "Brexit." But now there's another big "exit" risk looming on the horizon: the "Merkel-exit." "For the first time in a decade in power, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s political future is in question," Citi Research's chief global political analyst Tina Fordham wrote in a recent research report. "Although in our view the Chancellor could very well weather yet another test of her leadership and go on to win a fourth term, we regard a Merkel-exit ahead of German elections (due in 2017) as one of the most destabilizing political risks for the EU, and one with the potential to impact markets," she argued. Merkel has arguably been Europe's strongest leader since the financial crisis and was front and center handling issues like the Greek crisis and negotiating the Minsk Agreements in the last year. [cs_migrant_2]However, her decision to warmly welcome the refugees in 2015 was extremely unpopular both at home and in the rest of Europe. Her approval ratings plunged sharply to 49% in November 2015, down from 67% in August, according to data cited by Fordham. The most recent stab to her political position follows the mass New Year's Eve sexual assaults and other attacks on women in the city of Cologne, Germany that were attributed to gangs of mostly migrant men. These attacks further inflamed the debate in the country over her policy toward the refugees. "European policymakers are struggling to resolve the refugee and migration crisis, which follows in the wake of a list of challenges ... and is emerging as a significant source of political risk," writes Fordham. "The potential for the refugee and migration crisis to destabilize the EU could eventually overshadow Grexit (in any case a lower risk for 2016 than in previous years). Could it also be the undoing of the European politician who has done the most to attempt to address it?" she asks in the research note. [Screen Shot 2016 01 04 at 3.37.23 PM] Notably, a weaker Merkel could mark a shift in Europe's trajectory, which Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer and chairman Cliff Kupchan argued in their top risks for 2016 report. "This year, Merkel’s extraordinary welcome to refugees will draw fewer followers inside her own country, and virtually none outside it," they wrote in the report. "This will undermine her political position, and could encourage a domestic challenger over the coming months." "That leaves Europe with less ability to respond collectively to any crisis (expected or otherwise)," they noted — a point that's especially significant given that, as mentioned above, Merkel has long acted as the de facto European leader in collective crises. Additionally, Merkel has been the "biggest advocate of open Europe" — or a Europe that's open to the world, and has borders between (most) European states open to one another. So, if she is in a weaker position, "open Europe," too, could now be at risk. "It creates a dramatic change in how Europe interacts with itself and with the rest of the world," Bremmer and Kupchan wrote. "More resentment toward Germany from others in Europe will undermine its political capital. The refugee issue will play out across Europe as the proximate cause." Ultimately, the "Merkel-exit" is not something that will necessarily happen — as noted above Fordham. But it's hard to argue against the fact that her political position has already weakened — especially given that so many people did not support her decision regarding the refugees. And that in it of itself is a big change for Europe. [euro, usd] SEE ALSO: THE FAMOUS LAST WORDS OF 18 FAMOUS PEOPLE Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 4 lottery winners who lost it all
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
Chanting "No retreat till we're vindicated," the lawyers came from associations around Greece that are calling on the government to scrap key provisions outlined in government proposals this month. Pension reform in rapidly-aging Greece is a key demand ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.newser.com |
Greece’s left-wing government is asking Canadian Eldorado Gold (TSX:ELD) (NYSE:EGO) to resume halted mining operations and preserve jobs currently in the line as a condition for the two parties to continue talks on the country's biggest foreign investment.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.mining.com |
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Several thousand lawyers, many wearing ties or high heels, have marched to parliament to protest a planned overhaul of the pension system by the country's leftwing government. Chanting "No retreat till we're vindicated," the lawyers ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.chron.com |
Brussels: Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Thursday said Greece had "fully accepted" that the International Monetary Fund take a role in its third bailout programme despite Athens earlier saying the fund is no longer needed. "(Finance Minister Euclid ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT zeenews.india.com |
[The body of a migrant washed up on a beach in Izmir's Dikili district on January 5, 2016]Turkish authorities on Thursday discovered the bodies of seven would-be migrants to Greece on western Turkish beaches, the official Anatolia news agency said.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com |
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is meeting on Thursday with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias in Athens to hold talks on European Union reform, Cyprus and the refugee issue. Ahead of his arrival in Athens, the British official said: Britain and Greece have a number of issues of mutual interest including EU reform, Cyprus and
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Blackmail is the only “strategy” they know. And they apply it again towards Greece. The European Central Bank allegedly is preparing to accept again “Greek bonds as collateral for liquidity” provided that the “Pension Reform passes through the parliament.” “ECB prepares to again accept Greek bonds as collateral for cash […]
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com |
Five members of foreign non-governmental organizations were taken to the prosecutor on Thursday morning facing charges of having facilitated the illegal entrance of refugees and migrants to Greece. The 2 Danes and 3 Spaniards were arrested this morning by members of the Greek Coast Guard because they towed a boat […]
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com |
The Garden of the Greek Gods, a pantheon of ancient Greek gods and mythological figures sculptures, created by Canadian artist E.B. Cox, have been caught in a “custody battle” between Muzik nightclub, Exhibition Place and the city council in Toronto.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT canada.greekreporter.com |
This week in Greek politics, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a liberal politician and son of a former liberal prime minister, pulled off an unexpected victory in the leadership race for the opposition center-right New Democracy party. The vote might well have turned ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.brookings.edu |
[Some 850,000 migrants -- mostly from war-torn Syria -- have risked their lives to cross the Aegean Sea to Europe last year alone, many arriving at the Greek island of Lesbos is dinghies and rickety boats]Five Spaniards claiming to be NGO staff on the Greek island of Lesbos have been arrested on suspicion of migrant trafficking, Greek coastguard sources said Thursday.
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com |
Greece, NY- Sentencing is set for today for a man who was shot in an encounter with Greece police. Thomas Manza pleaded guilty to menacing a police officer and drug possession charges. Greece Police say they were doing a welfare check on Manza in November ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wham1180.com |
FXStreet (Córdoba) - Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday Greece had "fully accepted" that the International Monetary Fund take a role in its third bailout programme. "Tsakalotos (Greek Finance Minister) confirmed to me that the Greek ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.fxstreet.com |
Lesvos, Greece — Vast piles of lifejackets clogging the idyllic beaches of the Greek island of Lesvos are testimony to an often harrowing journey made by thousands of refugees and migrants crossing to Europe. But now in an effort to salvage practical use ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT allafrica.com |
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in December that the participation of the IMF in the bailout, the third since 2010, was not necessary and that the program could be handled by euro zone authorities alone. But the participation of the IMF is a key ...
|
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.reuters.com |