19th July, 2015
French President Francois Hollande said that the 19 countries using the euro need their own government complete with a budget and parliament to cooperate better and overcome the Greek crisis
crisis.
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Archive for the ‘Battle for Europe’ Category
France’s Hollande proposes creation of euro-zone government
Posted by seumasach on July 20, 2015
Posted in Battle for Europe | Tagged: eurozone governance | Leave a Comment »
The left’s anti-European turn
Posted by seumasach on July 19, 2015
Cailean Bochanan
19th July, 2015
Just before the Greek referendum George Galloway tweeted:
“Greek Partisans will vote NO in Sunday’s referendum. There is European life after the Euro. No more bail-outs for bankers. Go for growth!”
Galloway would , of course, have been equally vehement in his opposition to the bail-out of the City of London in 2008. Well, actually, no. In statement made at the time he said:
“In the midst of this financial crisis which threatens us all, at last the government is taking action which may begin to shore up the banking system. I hope that it is not, as many in the City are saying, “too little, too late”. “It was essential the government propped up the banks’ capital base, it had to provide lending to banks that can’t borrow money from others to pay their debts. And we had to have a guarantee of bank debts, if we were not to see a full-scale financial panic and the collapse of the whole debit and credit system. But having put the money in, the government now needs to force the banks to pay the public back in return.”
Leaving aside the piety at the end this was simply a full endorsement of the bail-out. In an extraordinary but characteristic bit of sophistry Galloway was able to spin the bailout as a break from neoliberalism, as a break “from the outdated dogmas of free market economics.”
Posted in Battle for Europe, British economy, Financial crisis | Leave a Comment »
Most Greeks want to stay in Euro and reach deal
Posted by seumasach on July 18, 2015
18th July, 2015
Seven in 10 Greeks are in favor the government reaching an agreement with the country’s creditors, even if it involves tough measures, according to an opinion poll published on Saturday.
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Greece: now IMF backs down
Posted by seumasach on July 17, 2015
IMF’s Lagarde: Straight ‘haircut’ for Greece’s debt is off the table
17th July, 2015
PARIS — The International Monetary Fund will participate in the Greek bailout plan if it includes debt restructuring and bold government reforms.
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George Osborne backs down on use of EU bailout fund in Greece crisis
Posted by seumasach on July 16, 2015
The planned grexit seems to have fallen through as Tsipras forgets his lines in this Greek drama. A good moment then for the Brits to quietly back off.
16th July, 2015
George Osborne has backed down over the use of an EU bailout fund to give an emergency loan to Greece. But the chancellor said there would be an “impregnable ringfence” around the up to £850m of British money in the fund to prevent any losses to the taxpayer in the event of any default.
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Schaeuble continues to push for Grexit
Posted by seumasach on July 16, 2015
The plot thickens. We now have a very interesting coalition openly opposing a deal and, implcitly or explicitly, calling for grexit: the IMF, the British government, Schauble & Co, the left and the right. The Greek people, however, overwhelmingly support remaining in the eurozone and, by the look of it, the majority of Europeans. The call for a haircut, impermissible under EU rules, is unnecessary since it is possible to fudge the issue by endlessly differing payment and lowering interest rates. This is what is already happening according to the European Commission so it may be that the IMF and Schauble are throwing in this red herring simply as a wrecking tactic.
Schaeuble Shrugs Off Greek Vote Saying Euro Exit Is Best
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Greece the only way it’ll get a debt reduction is to leave the euro and cast doubt on the country’s ability to even complete negotiations on a third bailout.
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EU publishes Greece assessment, sees debt reprofiling
Posted by seumasach on July 15, 2015
“It must be emphasized that eurozone loans are not an issue for Greek debt sustainability because they have long grace periods … Greece is currently paying neither interest nor principal on the loans,” Dombrovskis told a news conference.
15th July, 2015
The European Commission published on Wednesday its assessment of Greece’s bailout request, taking a different view of Athens’s debt sustainability than the IMF, but also signaling a possibility of debt relief.
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The IMF and David Cameron express reservations over Greek deal
Posted by seumasach on July 15, 2015
Along with the IMF and Cameron opposing this deal, we also have most of the left intelligentsia coming out in concert as eurosceptics in terms virtually indistinguishable from those Farage and Le Pen.
15th July, 2015
The Greek debt deal was concluded only two days ago, in the early morning in Brussels. Today is the deadline by which the Greek parliament must pass a long list of legislation required for bailout talks to proceed. But already, cracks have begun to appear in the European establishment’s support for the deal.
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Britain rules out financing Greece bailout
Posted by seumasach on July 15, 2015
14th July, 2015
British finance minister George Osborne has ruled out any financial involvement in a fresh bailout for Greece after suggestions that a mechanism backed by the whole European Union could provide bridge financing for Athens.
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IMF declares war on Germany
Posted by seumasach on July 15, 2015
“Unfortunately, the IMF didn’t appear to anticipate the PM’s complete capitulation”
Clearly, the IMF seeks to wreck the existing agreement. They are in a strong position since Germany have insisted on their participation.Once again, European weakness, due to their inability to resolve these matters internally, has been exposed.
In “Secret” Report Lagarde Says Greece Will Need Massive Debt Relief
A divide between the IMF and Europe (read: Germany), regarding writedowns on Greece’s debt to the EU has been brewing for quite some time and recently returned to the international spotlight when, a few months back, the Fund indicated debt relief was a precondition for its participation in any further aid for Athens.
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Germany floats Greek euro “time-out” without more reforms
Posted by seumasach on July 11, 2015
11th July, 2015
The German government has argued that Greece could take a five-year “time-out” from the euro zone and have some of its debts written off if Athens fails to improve proposals it has made for a bailout.
Posted in Battle for Europe, Financial crisis | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 