Keeping Greece in the Euro May Have Nothing to Do With Finances

by Maria Petrakis

June 12, 2015 — 2:01 AM EEST

 Bloomberg

A bronze statue of Harry S. Truman stands unguarded along a busy Athens road, a reminder of Greece’s post-World War II position as a strategic bulwark for the U.S. and Europe.

If euro-area policy makers overcome their frustration over Greek financial brinkmanship and cough up more aid, it will be in no small part because of that role.

“Greece’s geopolitical potential has been used as a promise, but mostly as a threat,” said Eirini Karamouzi, lecturer in contemporary history at Sheffield University and author of a book on Greece’s relationship with Europe during the Cold War. “There’s always been the threat of a catastrophic spillover effect if Greece was left to its own devices or, worse, turn into a failed state in Europe’s backyard.”

Despite IMF walkout, Greece hopes for deal on June 18

Fri Jun 12, 2015 2:53am EDT Related: GREECE

ATHENS

Greece hopes to clinch a deal with its lenders at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on June 18, the state minister said on Friday, as time runs short for the country to stave off default at the end of the month.

The statement by Alekos Flabouraris came a day after the International Monetary Fund walked away from negotiations in Brussels, citing major differences, and a top EU leader bluntly told Athens to stop "gambling" with its future.

Greece at the Cliff’s Edge

Creditors warn Athens not to expect a better offer.

June 11, 2015 6:52 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

Greece’s talks with creditors entered a new stage Thursday as the International Monetary Fund withdrew from bailout talks. This is the bluntest in a series of increasingly impatient statements from creditors that all make the same point: Athens won’t get a better deal.

I.M.F. Recalls Negotiators as Deadline Looms for Greek Deal

By LIZ ALDERMAN and LANDON THOMAS Jr.JUNE 11, 2015

The New York Times

PARIS — The plotline is familiar by now in Greece’s long-running debt crisis, as bailout talks once again hit a major snag. But at this stage just weeks before the bailout expires, the latest twist could have more serious repercussions.

On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund sent its negotiators on the Greek rescue program back to Washington, in the starkest sign yet that Athens may be forced to default on its debts at the end of the month.

Tusk Says Greece Must Bow to Reality as Gambling Now Over

by James G Neuger

June 11, 2015 — 3:02 PM EEST Updated on June 11, 2015 — 3:31 PM EEST

Bloomberg

European Union President Donald Tusk accused Greece of playing games with its future in the euro zone and pressed Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government to make concessions in order to escape economic ruin.

As Greece lurches toward default, businesses hit the wall

Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:32am EDT Related: GREECE

ATHENS | BY ANGELIKI KOUTANTOU

Reuters

When construction of four 6.5 billion euro toll roads across Greece resumed last year, Greek and foreign businesses rejoiced.

Greece Is the Crisis Club’s Odd Man Out

Stunted export sector makes eurozone’s weakest link less responsive to bailout medicine

 The Wall Street Journal

By GREG IP

Updated June 10, 2015 2:06 p.m. ET

53 COMMENTS

Odds are Greece and its international creditors will strike some sort of deal to avoid default before a deadline looming at the end of June.

The bigger question is whether Greece will emerge from a new bailout any better able to grow, and thus support its debts, than it did from prior deals.

What Game Is Greece Playing?

15 JUN 10, 2015 2:00 AM EDT

By Mark Buchanan

 Bloomberg

The repeated willingness of Greece and its creditors to bring the entire euro area to the brink of disaster presents a difficult and fascinating question for economic theorists: What game are they really playing?

On the surface, it seems like a classic game of chicken, in which each side tries to look determined enough to make the other crumble. The creditors, including the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, insist that they can't provide any more debt relief or loosen their austerity demands any further. Greece pushes for more, suggesting that it is willing to default on its debts, possibly triggering an unraveling of the monetary union, if it doesn't get its way.

Grexit: Will Greece Leave The Euro And What Will Happen If It Does?

Clem Chambers, CONTRIBUTOR

Forbes

Will Greece leave the euro? Surely not. Europe must muddle through. There will be a deal and both sides will claim victory and clasped hands will be raised.

Everyone knows there will be no Grexit, only more grandstanding for the gullible home audiences of Europe.

But wait, what if there is a Greek exit from the euro? Leaving the euro is not leaving Europe. It is not even close. And what happens if Greece stays in, what more misery follows for all?

Grexit would be 'start of the end for the eurozone,' says Tsipras

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has warned in an interview of the costs to EU taxpayers if his country left the eurozone. Athens has meanwhile finally submitted a promised reform plan to its creditors.

http://www.dw.de/grexit-would-be-start-of-the-end-for-the-eurozone-says-tsipras/a-18504543

In the interview in the Tuesday edition of Italy's Corriere della Sera, Tsipras said that if Greece were forced out of the eurozone after failing to make a deal on managing its debt, Spain or Italy could soon follow, precipitating the collapse of the currency bloc.

American Billionaire Makes Risky Bet on Greece Debt Deal

By JACK EWING
JUNE 9, 2015

The New York Times

FRANKFURT — The contrarian American billionaire Wilbur L. Ross Jr. made a bundle betting on the Irish banking system when it was down and out, and a similar wager on Cyprus now looks promising. But Greece may prove to be the toughest test yet of his knack for cashing in on eurozone crisis spots.

The economics of bluffing

Buttonwood

When political leaders turn into option-writers

May 30th 2015 |

The Economist

WILL Greece default on its debts and leave the euro? Will Britain decide to leave the European Union? Politicians in the two countries have threatened, implicitly or explicitly, to take these drastic steps if their European colleagues do not offer them inducements to stay.

Greece delivers reform plan to EU, warns on cost of failure

Tue Jun 9, 2015 7:15am EDT Related: ITALY, GREECE

ATHENS/BRUSSELS | BY RENEE MALTEZOU AND JAN STRUPCZEWSKI

Reuters

Greece handed its creditors new proposals on unlocking funds to keep the country from default, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras offering hope for a deal and warning the cost of failure would be enormous.

The reform proposals mark a further attempt by Tsipras to compromise with lenders as time runs out to reach a deal to prevent his country going bankrupt.

Greece Said to Submit Revised Budget Plan in Bid for Funding

by Nikos Chrysoloras

June 9, 2015 — 10:53 AM EEST Updated on June 9, 2015 — 11:59 AM EEST

Bloomberg

The Greek government submitted a three-page budget proposal to its creditors in Brussels in a bid to unlock bailout funds, two international officials with direct knowledge of the discussions said.

The document covered only fiscal targets, one of the people said. Greece gave its creditors a separate note, also three pages long, on how to address the country’s financing needs, in which the government asked to use funds from the European Stability Mechanism to repay about 6.7 billions euros ($7.6 billion) of bonds held by the European Central Bank that come due in July and August, the people said.

Merkel-Schaeuble Differences Over Greece Talks Said to Widen

by Birgit JennenRainer BuerginBrian Parkin

June 8, 2015 — 7:16 PM EEST Updated on June 9, 2015 — 12:40 PM EEST

Bloomberg

A split between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is widening over Greece as the funding standoff goes down to the wire, said people familiar with the matter.

Merkel is ready to make concessions to keep Greece in the euro because of geopolitical concerns, while Schaeuble is willing to let the country exit the euro unless its government takes measures to ensure the country’s long-term survival in the monetary union, said the people, who asked not be identified speaking about internal party discussions.

Εδώ, οι καλές διαπραγματεύσεις...

ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ 07.06.2015 : 18:43

Από τον Πάσχο Μανδραβέλη

Εφημερίδα Καθημερινή

Και σε ποιον ακριβώς πλανήτη ζούσε μέχρι πρότινος ο αναπληρωτής υπουργός Οικονομικών κ. Ευκλείδης Τσακαλώτος, που δήλωσε «σοκαρισμένος από το τελεσίγραφο των δανειστών»; Δεν διάβαζε εφημερίδες; Δεν είχε ακούσει τίποτε για τη σθεναρή τους στάση απέναντι στην κυβέρνηση Σαμαρά; Δεν πήρε χαμπάρι τίποτε στις «διαπραγματεύσεις» όπου συμμετείχε ως πρωταγωνιστής; Μήπως βρισκόταν σ’ έναν άλλο κόσμο τον οποίο θεωρούσε εφικτό; Και επιπλέον: τι εμπιστοσύνη μπορούμε να έχουμε σε μια διαπραγματευτική ομάδα, όταν ο επικεφαλής της δεν μπορεί να προβλέψει και «σοκάρεται» από τις εξελίξεις;

Greece talks of compromise as Merkel warns time is short

Mon Jun 8, 2015 5:03pm EDT Related: GREECE

ATHENS/KRUEN, GERMANY | BY RENEE MALTEZOU AND NOAH BARKIN

Reuters

Greece proclaimed a new willingness to compromise with its international creditors on Monday, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that time was running out for a reform-for-aid deal to keep the country in the euro.

Three days after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told his parliament the latest proposal from the EU and IMF was "absurd", the Greek government said it was ready to negotiate a settlement acceptable to both sides by the end of this month - when Greece's bailout program expires and it faces the prospect of default on its debts.

Pensions in Greece Feel the Pinch of Debt Negotiations

By SUZANNE DALEYJUNE 8, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Vasiliki Meliou did not want to retire at 53, but she had little choice, she said, after the state-owned bank she worked for was sold three years ago.

To stay at the bank carried the risk of being laid off, and with Greece’s unemployment rate above 25 percent, she doubted she would ever find another job.

GREECE: 'Fasten your seat belts'

By MIKE BIRD

Market Watch

JUN. 8, 2015, 2:51 AM

The deadline for a deal to resolve Greece's ongoing drama seemed to be pushed back last week. But new stresses could appear as early as this week if there is no noticeable progress on the talks.

Last week Greece decided to combine the four debt payments it owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June — worth about €1.5 billion ($1.66 billion, £1.09 billion) collectively — into one, which will be due at the end of the month.

Scientists Drop Science Bomb on Climate-Change Skeptics

By Jonathan Chait

The New York Times

Over the last couple of years, the conservative movement, which loves science, has had a completely scientific-based reason for skepticism about climate change. The Earth’s temperature seemed to be rising at a slower rate than scientists had predicted. The global warming “pause,” as it was inaccurately called — it was actually “getting warmer at a slower-than-expected rate,” rather than an actual pause — served as grist for a massive flow of coverage expressing skepticism about scientific models and climate change.