Deepening Crisis Over Euro Pits Leader Against Leader

By MARCUS WALKER in Berlin, CHARLES FORELLE in Brussels and STACY MEICHTRY in Rome

The Wall Street Journal

… Europe's leaders have an unwritten rule not to intervene in one another's domestic politics…

… Italy, with nearly €2 trillion, or about $2.6 trillion, in national debt, was simply too big to save…

… Europe's leaders were reluctantly realizing that living with a common currency meant surrendering more of their national independence than they had bargained for…

…The euro zone, which accounts for nearly 20% of global economic activity, is sliding into recession.…

…Mr. Tremonti would later privately tell a group of European finance ministers that his government had received two threatening letters in August…"The one from the ECB was worse,"…

… While the orchestra played Rossini and Mozart, a clique of Europe's most powerful leaders huddled in a side room…

… Her unspoken threat: Banks might get nothing if they spurned it…

…"The real question" for the referendum, Ms. Merkel told Mr. Papandreou there, "is 'Do you want to be in the euro, or not?'"…

Where Greece Is Right and Germany Is Wrong

…It’s the profligate Greeks, whose screw-ups helped drag Europe into its deepest crisis since World War II, who are mostly right in this argument—and the disciplined, hard-working Germans who are mostly wrong…

… The very human tendency to mix up economics and morality is what makes the Keynesian case for expansionary government policy hard for politicians to defend…

… Austerity got a fair shot in Europe in 2011, and it’s failing…

… But it’s impossible for every country to run a trade surplus, just as it’s impossible for every person to be a better-than-average driver…

… only dramatic action will prevent a breakup of the common currency…

Bloomberg Buisinessweek, By Peter Coy

Dithering at the Top Turned EU Crisis to Global Threat

By CHARLES FORELLE and MARCUS WALKER

The Wall Street Journal

… The consequence was that a crisis in a few small economies turned into a threat to the survival of Europe's common currency and a menace to the global economy…

… Greece's bondholders would be required to lend more money…

… France's banks had lent more heavily than Germany's to Greece…

… Mr. Trichet lost his patience…"I don't agree with private-sector involvement,…

… Mr. Sarkozy said he would accept the private-sector involvement—if Ms. Merkel dropped her resistance to giving the euro-zone bailout fund broad new powers…

Υπουργοί πιέζουν για να σώσουν φοροφυγάδες;

Δημοσιεύθηκε στον ιστότοπο http://www.e-dragoumanos.eu/

Σημ. του Blog. Το άρθρο που ακολουθεί περιέχει τις απόψεις του blog που τις δημοσίευσε. Το δημοσιεύουμε γιατί αναφέρεται σε τρία θέματα ταυτοχρόνως, την παραίτηση των εισαγγελέων, την παραίτηση Σπινέλη και την αντίδραση των εφοριακών. Εν ολίγοις, οι Πολιτικοί αγανάκτησαν γιατί οι εισαγγελείς «δηλητηριάζουν» με τις καταγγελίες τους την κοινή γνώμη, οι εφοριακοί, καταγγέλλουν τον Σπινέλη γιατί τους συκοφάντησε (κατήγγειλε διαφθορά στις εφορίες), και καταγγέλλουν πολιτικές παρεμβάσεις στο έργο τους (Ροντούλης). Το κερασάκι στην τούρτα είναι η καταγγελία των εφοριακών για τις εταιρείες ορκωτών λογιστών που χρεώνουν «πολλά» για τις υπηρεσίες τους, και δεν την αντέχουν τέτοια αδικία…

… Δεν δεχόμαστε να είμαστε εισαγγελείς υπό απαγόρευση και καθ’ υπαγόρευση…

…οι πιέσεις προς τους δύο να “χαμηλώσουν τους τόνους” και να μην ασχοληθούν με συγκεκριμένα πρόσωπα, ήταν το τελευταίο διάστημα αφόρητες…

… οι εισαγγελείς επιχειρούν να δημιουργήσουν την εντύπωση της παρέμβασης στο έργο τους…

… πολιτικές παρεμβάσεις στο έργο τους κατήγγειλαν και οι εφοριακοί…

… Ο πρόεδρος της ΠΟΕ ΔΟΥ επιτέθηκε τέλος, στις εταιρίες Ορκωτών Λογιστών…

Italy yields seen easing, but hurdles loom

… analysts doubted whether the unprecedented ECB move and domestic progress on reform would be enough…

… Rome's short-term funding costs halved…

… its longer-dated bonds are more reliant on foreign buyers…

…. the mix of indecisive action from EU policymakers, a deteriorating economic climate and tortuous progress on the reform front in Italy was fuelling an increasingly negative outlook on its short-term debt sustainability ….

The euro: Still in casualty

BBC

By Gavin Hewitt (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/gavinhewitt)

22-12-2011

… The last summit …was a non-event…

… The political implications of all this can only be guessed at…

…. Increasingly the crisis over the single currency will focus attention on the state of European democracy…

… comprehensive solution to the eurozone crisis is technically and politically beyond reach…

… Some Europeans believe that a more closely integrated Europe will emerge out of the crisis…

Xρεοκοπία ή το α-νόητο της Γιορτής

Tου Xρήστου Γιανναρά

Καθημερινή 24-12-2011

Σημ. του Blog. Ο Χ. Γιανναράς, είναι ένας από τους σημαντικότερους σύγχρονους Έλληνες διανοούμενους. Αν οι νεώτερες (μετά την εκδίωξη των Οθωμανών) πολιτικές δυνάμεις που επεκράτησαν στην Ελλάδα και την διοίκησαν, προσδιόρισαν ότι «..ανήκωμεν εις την Δύσην..», τότε μπορούμε να πούμε ότι η σκέψη του Χ. Γιανναρά έρχεται να δώσει την δική της ερμηνεία για την  ιστορική, πολιτική και (εδώ) θρησκευτική διάσταση ενός τέτοιου προσδιορισμού. Η Ελλάδα όντας πολιτισμικά αυτόφωτη για αιώνες έφτασε στις μέρες μας στην «Χρεοκοπία ή το α-νόητο της γιορτής…».

ECB Overnight Deposits Reach New High

By WILLIAM LAUNDER

The Wall Street Journal

… Use of the European Central Bank's overnight deposit facility reached a new, all-time high…

… The high level reflects ongoing distrust in inter-bank lending markets,…

… It further underlines the abundance of liquidity…

Greece’s Creditors Resist Push From IMF for More Losses

Bloomberg

By Christos Ziotis, Marcus Bensasson and Jesse Westbrook - Dec 22, 2011 2:01 AM GMT+0200

… Lenders want the 70 billion euros ($91 billion) of new bonds …to carry a coupon of about 5 percent,…

… Greece’s debt will balloon to almost twice the size of its economy next year without a write-off…

… the new bonds should be governed by British law…

… Vega Asset Management LLC resigned this month from a committee of Greek creditors…

… private bondholders should have the same seniority after the swap as the IMF …

Damned with faint plans

Euro-zone government bonds have not been made safe—and the euro project remains in peril

Dec 17th 2011 | from the print edition

The Economist

… Yields on the ten-year bonds of Italy and Spain, …have risen again…

… The pact’s rigidity would make recessions worse, and the new fiscal rule would not have kept Ireland or Spain out of trouble…

… the money available would be barely enough to cover the borrowing needs of Spain and Italy over the next two years….

Το έλλειμμα της δημοσιονομικής επέκτασης

Τρίτη, 20 Δεκέμβριος 2011 09:15

Του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

… Φέτος, για παράδειγμα, το ελληνικό κράτος θα ξοδέψει -πέρα από τόκους και χρεολύσια- 10 δισ. παραπάνω απ’ όσα θα εισπράξει…

…, το 2009 το ελληνικό κράτος ξόδεψε 24 δισ. Παραπάνω…

… Φυσικά, αν τυπώναμε δραχμές, το χρήμα θα έπεφτε από τον Χολαργό. Μόνο που θα ήταν πληθωριστικό…

… Το έλλειμμα του ισοζυγίου τρεχουσών συναλλαγών το 2010 ήταν 24 δισ. ευρώ…

German Push to Remodel Europe May Backfire

Bloomberg

By Rainer Buergin and Simone Meier - Dec 20, 2011 1:01 AM GMT+0200

… The risk to Germany, …is that transforming the region’s struggling nations into blueprints of itself may work too well…

… German labor costs rose at half the pace of Greece’s…

… Schroeder unveiled his package … It took almost two years before the labor market began to show results,…

… Northern Italy, especially the region around Milan, is as good as Baden-Wuerttemberg…

EU Ministers Seek Crisis IMF Funding Deal

Bloomberg

By Patrick Donahue and Stephanie Bodoni - Dec 19, 2011 10:58 AM GMT+0200

… it’s doubtful they’ll put markets in a Christmas mood…

… an overall crisis solution may be “technically and politically beyond reach.”…

… the U.K. hadn’t agreed to increase its IMF contribution…

… requiring a high-deficit state to amass a super majority within the euro region to head off disciplinary procedures,…

Ties That Bound Europe Now Fraying

By STEPHEN FIDLER And DAVID ENRICH

The Wall Street Journal

… debt worries spread until they set in train a reversal of the historic process of European financial integration…

… the financial lifeline of some European states is ebbing away…

… The euro's first decade was much different…bond yields exceeded their interest cost for repo loans…

…The assumption that euro-zone government bonds were almost interchangeable and none could default steadily began to crumble …

…A turning point for euro-zone investment came in July. …investors in its bonds would take losses.

… The EBA … announced it was recalculating banks' capital needs.

… Investors haven't been convinced by European leaders' efforts…

Παγώνουν τα πρόστιμα σε λαθρεμπόρους καυσίμων.

Σημ. του blog. Πρόκειται για άλλο ένα σχετικά παλιό άρθρο. Η αξία του είναι ο ανάγλυφος τρόπος που περιγράφει την Ελληνική πολιτική πραγματικότητα. Το γεγονός που περιγράφει είναι ενδεικτικό της «κυριαρχίας» που θα απωλεσθεί από την πολιτική τάξη της Ελλάδας. Είναι η εξήγηση γιατί δεν προχωράνε οι μεταρρυθμίσεις, γιατί φέτος πάλι χάσαμε τους δημοσιονομικούς στόχους: Η πολιτική αντί να ασκείται με σκοπό το δημόσιο συμφέρον, παρεμβαίνει για την μη έκδοση αποφάσεων επιβολής προστίμων για παραβάσεις στον τομέα εμπορίας καυσίμων,…

Euro at 11-Month Low

Selloff Comes After Period of Resilience for the Currency

The Wall Street Journal

By TOM LAURICELLA

… ECB officials feel governments are moving more aggressively to address the debt crisis…

… recession in Greece is turning out to be deeper than expected…

… Betting on a lower euro had been a particularly fruitless trade for many hedge funds…

…"The general consensus is that each time the fiscal authorities don't come up with concrete, well-funded plans, the probability increases that the ECB has to step in,"…

Οι προστάτιδες συντεχνίες

Του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

Τρίτη, 13 Δεκέμβριος 2011 09:02

...Κάθε φορά που κάτι γινόταν για να περιοριστούν τα εξωφρενικά χρέη στο χώρο του φαρμάκου οι συνδαιτυμόνες του χώρου κραύγαζαν για την «υγεία του λαού»...

… Όπου υπάρχουν περιορισμοί και ολιγοπώλια ο κόσμος πληρώνει παραπάνω…

Cameron’s Backers Look Past ‘History of Antipathy’

Bloomberg

By Kevin Crowley and Ambereen Choudhury - Dec 13, 2011 2:01 AM GMT+0200

… Cameron cited defending London’s financial-services industry as the main reason he refused to join 26 other nations…

…Sarkozy and Merkel have endorsed a financial-transactions tax… George Osborne has called the plan an “attack” on London firms,…

…“For the U.K. economy it’s the equivalent of North Sea oil and it’s not running out.”...

…“This seems to be about the protection of banks rather than the country as a whole,”…

… anything that might result in the Europeans building an option to avoid the City would be unhelpful…

… If I were a rich German, I would already have put half my money in London. In sterling…

Questions Plague EU Pact

Europe's Leaders Agree to Repair Flaws in Currency, but Bold Strokes Missing

By CHARLES FORELLE And STEPHEN FIDLER

The Wall Street Journal

…Europe's leaders crafted a new "fiscal compact"… But the crucial government bond markets were mostly flat…

… It's unclear how quickly the pact could actually go into effect…

… U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron vetoed an EU-wide treaty… renewing questions about the future of the relationship…

… Euro-zone members who run outsize government deficits will face automatic penalties, … governments will put balanced-budget procedures of some form in their national laws…

… The only question that the market is currently asking is whether the political deal opens the way for more forceful intervention by the ECB…

… The months ahead will be filled with serious challenges…

Banks Prep for Life After Euro

The Wall Street Journal

Countries Study Printing Their Own Notes in Case Monetary Union Unravels

By DAVID ENRICH, DEBORAH BALL and ALISTAIR MACDONALD

…the Central Bank of Ireland—is evaluating whether it needs to secure additional access to printing presses…

But the fact central bankers are even studying the possibility…, underscores how swiftly conditions have deteriorated

…Disassembling the bloc would be messy at best…

… it usually takes about six months to develop a new currency…

Κοντογιώργης - Πολιτική Ευρώπη & ελληνική κρίση - 1.12.11

Merkel Calls for More 'Concrete' Union

The Wall Street Journal

By WILLIAM BOSTON and MARCUS WALKER

Ms. Merkel's first challenge, however, is to overcome her differences about the way forward with French President Nicolas Sarkozy…

… that euro members would have to accept a loss of national sovereignty, and that there is no quick fix to the crisis.

… they are prepared to sign a fiscal pact among the euro zone's 17 governments if the wider, 27-country EU won't agree…

…massive ECB intervention, …, if it doesn't work, could leave Europe staring into the abyss with no more cards to play…

…the potential for bondholder losses in future has helped to undermine investors' confidence…