Greece: update on public finances

The State primary budget balance has returned almost in line with the target, but mostly due to expenditure cuts. Revenues continue to underperform.

by Silvia Merler on 16th March 2015

Bruegel

At the end of last week the Greek Finance Ministry published the preliminary budget execution bulletin for February. The State primary budget balance has returned almost in line with the target, but mostly due to expenditure cuts. Revenues continue to underperform.

Greece's Euro Exit Seems Inevitable

DRACHMA TRUMPS EURO?

MAR 17, 2015 3:00 AM EDT

By Mark Gilbert

Greece's money troubles resemble a game of pass the parcel, where each successive participant rips another sheet of wrapping paper off the box -- which turns out to be empty when the final recipient reaches the core. With time and money running out, a successful endgame seems even less likely than it did a week or a month ago. It's increasingly obvious that the government's election promises are incompatible with the economic demands of its euro partners. Something's got to give.

Greece Grabs Cash as More Than $2 Billion in Payouts Loom

by Nikos Chrysoloras, Vassilis Karamanis, Christos Ziotis

(Bloomberg) -- Greece will begin debating measures to boost liquidity as the cash-starved country braces for more than 2 billion euros ($2.12 billion) in debt payments Friday.

Unable to access bailout funding and locked out of capital markets, the government will outline emergency plans to parliament Tuesday to increase funding. Payments due March 20 include interest on a swap originally arranged by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified publicly discussing the derivative.

Germany and Greece should look to Goethe to resolve their standoff

The Guardian

Paul Mason

Two hundred years ago Germany’s great poet and statesman performed a U-turn that some would like to see Angela Merkel copy

On a quiet street in central Athens stands the bronze, modernist facade of the Goethe Institut, which has been teaching German and spreading enlightenment about German culture since 1952. Last week, the Greek government threatened to seize the building, together with holiday homes and other German assets. Greece is claiming €341bn (£240bn) in second world war reparations from Germany – and if the government does not confiscate the Goethe Institut, there are numerous people in Athens ready to do it “from below”.

Greece Optimist Throws in Towel Seeing Tsipras Go ‘Plain Nuts’

by Simon Kennedy

(Bloomberg) -- Erik Nielsen likes to spend Sunday mornings ruminating over the world economy at a cafe near his west London home.

Greek Crisis Tests ECB’s Credibility

The central bank must decide if Greek banks should be allowed to use scarce liquidity to roll over their existing holdings of T-bills

By SIMON NIXON

Updated March 15, 2015 10:14 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

When the eurozone decided in 2012 to create a banking union, it did so largely because other ideas for deepening economic integration seemed too contentious. Ceding sovereignty over national banking systems was an easier political sell than, for example, handing Brussels new powers to borrow and spend.

Germany Won’t Negotiate With Greece Over Compensation for Nazi Atrocities

Athens should focus on tackling current problems, says spokesman

By ANDREA THOMAS

Updated March 11, 2015 2:02 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

BERLIN—Berlin on Wednesday rejected mounting calls from Athens that Germany should pay compensation for Nazi atrocities in Greece, further souring the mood between the eurozone’s main paymaster and Greece’s cash-strapped government.

After a Greek government minister suggested Athens could seize German assets, a German government spokesman dismissed the threat as groundless and urged Athens to focus on a more pressing issue: Fulfilling the conditions for the release of much-needed financial aid.

Germans Tired of Greek Demands Want Country to Exit Euro

by Dalia Fahmy, Elisabeth Behrmann

(Bloomberg) -- Berlin cabdriver Jens Mueller says he’s had it with the Greek government and he doesn’t want Germany to send any more of his tax money to be squandered in Athens.

“They’ve got a lot of hubris and arrogance, being in the situation they’re in and making all these demands,” said Mueller, 49, waiting for fares near the Brandenburg Gate. “Maybe it’s better for Greece to just leave the euro.”

Italy, Spain to follow if Greece exits eurozone, says Greek defense minister

DW

Greece's Defense Minister Panos Kammenos has said his country's exit from the eurozone could be followed by Italy, Spain and even Germany. Kammenos' interview comes amid lack of progress in Greece's bailout plan.

Panos Kammenos, Greece's defense minister, spoke to German newspaper "Bild" on Saturday, saying his country's leaving the euro could precede an exit by Italy and Spain, followed by Germany in the future.

"If Greece explodes, Spain and Italy will be next and then at some point, Germany. We therefore need to find a way within the eurozone, but this way cannot be that the Greeks keep on having to pay," Kammenos told Bild.

Greece's Varoufakis Warns On QE But Doesn't Seem To Understand It

Forbes 

Tim Worstall

Contributor

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/03/14/greeces-varoufakis-warns-on-qe-but-doesnt-seem-to-understand-it/

The Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, has warned that the ECB’s quantitative easing program isn’t going to do much for the eurozone economy. It’s just going to fuel a boom in the stock markets. This won’t do much for real investment in the currency block. There is a truth here, of course there is. QE will indeed produce a boom in both the stock and bond markets. Yet this is what seems not to be understood: this is the point of QE, this is how it actually works.

Greece’s Alexis Tsipras Receives Cool Welcome at European Commission

‘I don’t think we have made sufficient progress,’ commission’s Juncker tells Greek prime minister

By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER And  VIKTORIA DENDRINOU

Updated March 13, 2015 4:34 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

BRUSSELS—Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras received a cool welcome Friday from the president of the European Commission, amid heightening tensions between Athens and other European capitals over negotiations on desperately needed financial aid.

“I am not satisfied with the developments in recent weeks,” Jean Claude-Juncker said as he received Mr. Tsipras at the commission’s headquarters in Brussels. “I don’t think we have made sufficient progress.”

EU executive warns of Grexit 'catastrophe', urges euro solidarity

BY JAN STRUPCZEWSKI AND ALASTAIR MACDONALD

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/14/us-eurozone-greece-idUSKBN0M90PH20150314

BRUSSELS Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:34pm EDT

(Reuters) - The European Commission warned of "catastrophe" if Greece has to abandon the euro and its chief executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, urged EU governments to show solidarity as Athens struggles to secure more credit.

It’s Time for the E.U. to Stop Bullying Greece

MARCH 13, 2015

The New Yorker

BY JOHN CASSIDY

ew weeks ago, I wrote a post saying that big European countries had outmaneuvered Greece in negotiations to extend the country’s financial bailout, resulting in an interim deal, which was signed on February 20th, in Brussels. In a rebuttal at Social Europe, the economist James K. Galbraith, a supporter of Greece’s leftist Syriza government and a former colleague of Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s finance minister, took me to task, saying that Greece had received what it needed: some fiscal space and a guarantee of financial stability. In the Times, Paul Krugman also argued that the Greeks had done pretty well in the deal.

Germany Urges Greece to Honor Commitment

Angela Merkel’s spokesman insists that crisis isn't a ‘private feud’ between Athens and Berlin

The Wall Street Journal

By ANDREA THOMAS

Updated March 13, 2015 11:26 a.m. ET

BERLIN—Germany wants Greece to stay in the eurozone, but it is now in the hands of the government in Athens to honor its commitment to overhaul its economy, senior German government officials have said.

Schaeuble's Right, The Most Likely Cause Of Grexit Is A Mistake, Human Error

Forbes

By Tim Worstall

This is something that I’ve been saying for some time now, that if Greece really does leave the euro then the most likely cause of it doing so will be that someone has made a mistake. Now, I believe that Greece should leave (in common with many economists): but just about every European politician believes that it should not. And most Greek politicians believe that it should not leave, as is also the express wish of most Greek citizens. Given that it is the politicians actually running things here then there seems to be no good reason why Greece either should or will leave.

If Greece Embraces Uncertainty, Innovation Will Follow

George Serafeim

MARCH 13, 2015

Harvard Business Review

No matter what happens with the Greek bailout, all parties agree that the Greek economy will have to become more competitive. Many politicians and commentators mention two critical factors in accomplishing this: increasing innovative capacity and reducing bureaucracy. Both are important, but they are far more difficult to achieve than many understand because they are, to a significant extent, influenced by culture.

Greece lodges complaint over German FM Schäuble's 'naïve' comment

Greece has accused Germany's finance minister of insulting his Greek counterpart. It comes as talks take place over the country's economic future, and as relations between the two countries reach an all-time low.

The allegation compounds the bad feelings between the two European nations, already strained over Greece's international loans program.

A spokesman for the Greek Foreign Ministry, Constantinos Koutras, confirmed that a complaint was made to the German Foreign Ministry on Tuesday night concerning the alleged remarks.

"As a minister of a country that is our friend and our ally, he cannot personally insult a colleague," Koutras said, but did not go into further detail.

Greece Complains About Schaeuble in Deepening Conflict

by Rainer Buergin, Eleni Chrepa

(Bloomberg) -- Greece’s war of words with Germany deepened as Greece renewed demands for war reparations and formally complained about Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Germany and Greece confirmed Thursday that the Greek ambassador in Berlin made an official protest late Tuesday to the German Foreign Ministry over comments made by Schaeuble.

Schaeuble and his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis have traded barbs in recent weeks, with Schaeuble suggesting on Tuesday that Varoufakis needed to look more closely at an agreement Greece signed in February and commenting on his fellow minister’s communication strategy. Schaeuble said Thursday that any suggestion he had insulted Varoufakis was “absurd.”

O.E.C.D. Will Advise Greece on Economic Overhauls

By DAVID JOLLYMARCH 12, 2015

The New York Times

PARIS — Greece will get advice from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on ways to revamp the country’s economy, under a deal announced on Thursday.

The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and the head of the O.E.C.D., José Ángel Gurría, made the announcement at a news conference in Paris, indicating that Mr. Gurría’s group would help Greece with the economic changes that its international creditors are demanding in exchange for unlocking additional bailout money.

Greece Doesn’t Need Next Aid Tranche to Meet Its Obligations, Tsipras Says

Greek prime minister says the country will fulfill its financial responsibilities

By WILLIAM HOROBIN

March 12, 2015 1:39 p.m. ET

PARIS—Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Thursday that the country will be able to fulfill its financial responsibilities, even if creditors don't a pay a tranche of aid.

European and International Monetary Fund officials are currently in Athens assessing whether Greece is meeting the conditions for the tranche of aid from the current bailout program of €240 billion ($254.7 billion).