Brexit Bulletin: Victory, But at What Price?

Theresa May is now a technicality away from starting Brexit.
by Simon Kennedy  and Tim Ross
9 February 2017, 9:30 π.μ. EET

Theresa May was celebrating on Wednesday night as the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to approve starting the Brexit process.

Not only that, but the government managed to avoid any amendment to its 137-word bill, leaving it on track to invoke Article 50 by the end of March. The unelected House of Lords will now debate the legislation, but doesn’t have the authority to derail it.

Brexit Secretary David Davis hailed the 494-122 vote as “historic” and said it was time for the county “to unite to make a success of the important task at hand.” Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was exultant, as was one-time Tory leadership hopeful Andrea Leadsom.

Greece: Priorities for a Return to Sustainable Growth

(From the IMF site)
February 7, 2017

Greece should deepen and accelerate reforms, which, together with further debt relief, are needed to allow the economy to return to a sustainable growth path, the IMF said in its latest annual assessment of the Greek economy.

The IMF’s Article IV report notes that the country has made progress in reining in its fiscal and external deficits, although this has taken a heavy toll on society. The report identifies a path to sustainable growth and prosperity that requires a two-pronged approach: ambitious policies on the part of the Greek authorities and significant debt relief on the part of Greece’s European partners.

The Q&A below highlights some of the key issues about the country’s progress and its reform priorities for the period ahead.

Το διαμέρισμα της συζύγου του κ Μητσοτάκη στο Παρίσι.

Το άρθρο που ανακίνησε το θέμα είναι αυτό:
http://www.documentonews.gr/article/kyriakos-mareba-se-bolikh-diastash

Αφού το διάβασα (όχι όλο) κατέληξα στις παρακάτω παρατηρήσεις:
Στο κείμενο δίνει τιμή συμβολαίου 1.470.000 Ευρώ τα οποία σύμφωνα πάντα με το κείμενο πληρώθηκαν με 900.000 Ευρώ δάνειο (3.000 ευρώ ανά μήνα δόση) και με 470.000 μετρητά. Το άθροισμα του ποσού του δανείου και του ποσού των μετρητών που καταβλήθηκαν για την αγορά του συγκεκριμένου διαμερίσματος δεν είναι ίσο με το ποσό που αναγράφεται ως τιμή αγοράς στο συμβόλαιο. Συγκεκριμένα το ποσό της τιμής του συμβολαίου είναι κατά 100.000 Ευρώ μεγαλύτερο από το άθροισμα του δανείου (900.000 Ευρώ) και των μετρητών (470.000 Ευρώ). 
Επίσης λέει ότι η τιμή στο έβδομο διαμέρισμα του Παρισιού (εκεί όπου είναι το διαμέρισμα) κυμαίνονται στις 20.000-28.000 Ευρώ το τετραγωνικό, και τέλος ότι η επιφάνεια του διαμερίσματος είναι 92 τ.μ. Αν όμως διαιρέσουμε την αξία του συμβολαίου με την μέγιστη τιμή της αξίας του τ.μ. στο έβδομο διαμέρισμα (28.000 Ευρώ), όπως την δίνουν οι συγγραφείς του άρθρου, έχουμε 52,5 τ.μ. Δηλαδή, με την τιμή που δίνει το άρθρο για το τετραγωνικό μέτρο στο συγκεκριμένο διαμέρισμα του Παρισιού, μπορούσε να αγοράσει διαμέρισμα με περίπου τα μισά τ.μ. Επειδή το διαμέρισμα είναι 92 τ.μ. και η αξία του συμβολαίου είναι 1.470.000 Ευρώ συμπεραίνουμε ότι ότι το άρθρο δίνει, κατά προσέγγιση, διπλάσια αντικειμενική αξία για το συγκεκριμένο διαμέρισμα του Παρισιού, όπως αυτό προκύπτει από τα δεδομένα του άρθρου. Η ίδια διαδικασία με την ελάχιστη τιμή για το τ.μ. στο έβδομο διαμέρισμα του Παρισιού δίνει 73,5 τ.μ. για το διαμέρισμα. Με βάση την τιμή του συμβολαίου και τα 92 τ.μ. του διαμερίσματος η τιμή ανά τ.μ. είναι 15.978 Ευρώ ανά τ.μ. Επειδή τα δύο τελευταία στοιχεία (αξία διαμερίσματος σύμφωνα με το συμβόλαιο και επιφάνεια του διαμερίσματος) ήταν γνωστά στους συγγραφείς του άρθρου ήταν γνωστή και η πραγματική τιμή του τ.μ. του διαμερίσματος της κ. Μητσοτάκη. Η τιμή αυτή όμως δεν αναγράφεται στο άρθρο. Αντί αυτής, της πραγματικής τιμής του τ.μ. του διαμερίσματος, αναγράφονται τιμές (20.000 και 28.000) που είναι σημαντικά υψηλότερες της πραγματικής.

Από το ίδιο κείμενο:
“Η τιμή των ακινήτων με βάση το συμβόλαιο είναι 1.470.000 ευρώ. Το 95% του ακινήτου ανήκει στην ίδια και το 5% στον Γιώργο Παπαζήση. Εκτός από το τίμημα αγοράς, πληρώνει ακόμη 80.000 ευρώ σε μεσιτικό γραφείο και 74.823 ευρώ σε φόρους και συμβολαιογραφικά έξοδα. Δηλαδή η Μαρέβα Μητσοτάκη πληρώνει περίπου 2 εκατομμύρια για να αποκτήσει το σπίτι του Βολταίρου.”
Εάν προσθέσουμε το τίμημα αγοράς (1.470.000 Ευρώ), την δαπάνη για το μεσιτικό γραφείο (80.000 Ευρώ) και την δαπάνη για τους φόρους το σύνολο είναι 1.624.823 Ευρώ που απέχει μακράν των “περίπου” 2 εκατομμυρίων που ισχυρίζεται το άρθρο.

Για τους λοιπούς ισχυρισμούς του άρθρου και των συγγραφέων περί υποχρέωσης υποβολής δήλωσης πόθεν έσχες από την σύζυγο σε περίπτωση διάστασης και όχι διαζυγίου, και τα όρια του νόμου που επικαλούνται, μπορώ να υποθέσω ότι είναι το ίδιο πρόχειρα και αυθαίρετα με τα οικονομικά στοιχεία για την αγορά του διαμερίσματος. Ο ίδιος δεν είμαι νομικός για να τα ελέγξω ούτε και έχω τα στοιχεία στην κατοχή μου που θα μου επέτρεπαν κάτι τέτοιο ακόμη και αν ήμουν νομικός.

IMF says Greece should meet lower fiscal surplus target

 Mon Feb 6, 2017 | 9:36pm EST

Reuters

By David Lawder | WASHINGTON
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday that Greece's economy would only grow by just under 1.0 percent in the long run given the constraints of its bailout program, but should meet the fiscal surplus target preferred by most IMF directors.

In its annual review of Greece's economic policies, the IMF said most of its board directors favor a Greek fiscal surplus target of 1.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2018, while some directors favor the higher 3.5 percent target sought by Greece's European lender group.

Trump: militant attacks 'all over Europe,' some not reported

Mon Feb 6, 2017 | 9:06pm EST

Reuters

By Steve Holland | TAMPA, FLA.
President Donald Trump on Monday accused the news media of ignoring attacks by Islamist militants in Europe.

Trump, who has made defeating Islamic State a core goal of his presidency, did not specify which attacks were going unreported, which news media organizations were ignoring them, or offer any details to support his claims.

"All over Europe, it's happening. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported," he told a group of about 300 U.S. troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

Syria has secretly executed thousands of political prisoners: rights group

The Washington Post

By Liz Sly February 6 at 8:18 PM
BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government secretly executed between 5,000 and 13,000 people in just one prison as part of its campaign to eliminate opposition to his rule, a new report by the watchdog group Amnesty International has found.

The killings took place over a four-year period between 2011 and 2015 in the notorious Sednaya facility outside Damascus, and the bodies were later disposed of in mass graves, according to the report released Monday by Amnesty.

Split by ‘Brexit,’ May and Merkel Diverge on Wider Issues, Too

By KATRIN BENNHOLD and ALISON SMALEFEB. 5, 2017


The New York Times

LONDON — In another era they could have been allies.

Both vicars’ daughters and born just a few years apart, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain share an understated pragmatism and conservative roots, and have made their way in the still largely man’s world of politics. But there could be so much more.

At a time when President Trump is lashing out at friend and foe, and when the macho politics of strongmen is resurgent from Moscow to Manila, when not just the European Union but high-minded Western values, free trade and security alliances are under attack, the two women might have worked together to defend the liberal global order.

Greece’s Response to its Resurgent Debt Crisis: Prosecute the Statistician

Andreas Georgiou, who became Athens’s statistics chief in 2010 to fix data fraud, now faces repeated accusations he manipulated figures to help impose austerity programs

By MARCUS WALKER
Feb. 6, 2017 10:53 a.m. ET
38 COMMENTS
ATHENS—Greece is struggling under its austerity regime and new questions are mounting as to whether it can satisfy its bailout terms. Some people in high places know just whom to blame—a statistician in rural Maryland.

Before Greece’s debt crisis, its governments manipulated statistics and masked the size of budget deficits, waste and patronage. The statistician, Andreas Georgiou, moved from the U.S. to become Greece’s first independent head of statistics in 2010. The European Union certified he subsequently fixed the omissions and reported the deficit in full.

On the contrary, Mr. Georgiou’s foes claim, he manipulated the deficit figures as part of a plot to force severe austerity on Greece under the 2010 bailout “Memorandum” imposed by the EU and International Monetary Fund.

Russia, Turkey, Iran discuss Syria ceasefire implementation in Astana

Mon Feb 6, 2017 | 12:42am EST

Ruters

Experts from Russia, Turkey, Iran and the United Nations have started a technical meeting in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, to discuss in detail the implementation of the Syrian ceasefire agreement, Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"Representatives of Jordan are expected to take part for the first time," a ministry spokesman said of the talks.

U.K. Business Says Brexit Already Having a Negative Effect

by Tim Ross  and Lucy Meakin
6 February 2017, 10:22 π.μ. EET 6

Brexit has already damaged businesses even before Prime Minister Theresa May triggers the start of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, according to a survey of the country’s largest companies.

More than half -- 58 percent -- of top executives at Britain’s biggest firms said the vote to quit the bloc has had a negative impact on their businesses, the Ipsos MORI “Captains of Industry” poll found. Two-thirds of the chief executives, chairmen and directors interviewed for the survey said they believed the business situation would worsen in the next 12 months.

Germany's Gabriel condemned Berlin's handling of Greece in letter: report

Thu Feb 2, 2017 | 3:31pm EST

Reuters

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel criticised the German government's handling of Greece in a letter he wrote to Chancellor Angela Merkel last month, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Handelsblatt newspaper said Gabriel - who swapped the Economy Ministry for the Foreign Ministry last week - had expressed his "great concern" about the talks on Greece's financial rescue and thought the government in Berlin should play a "more constructive role".

Germany wants the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to have a stake in Greece's bailout to give the rescue plan greater credibility, but also opposes granting Athens significant debt relief. The IMF says it will only join in if this rescue is the country's last and it includes significant debt relief.

The IMF Should Get Out of Greece

FEB 3, 2017 1:00 AM EST

Bloomberg

By
Ashoka Mody
The International Monetary Fund's involvement in Greece has been an unmitigated disaster: Time and again, its failure to heed crucial lessons has visited suffering upon the Greek people.  When the fund's directors meet on Monday, they should agree to forgive the country's debts and get out.


The IMF should never have gotten into Greece in the first place. As late as March 2010, with concerns about the Greek government's ability to pay its debts roiling markets, Europe's leaders wanted the IMF to stay away. Europeans feared that the fund’s financial assistance to one of their own would signal broader weakness in the currency union. As Jean-Claude Juncker famously put it: “If California had a refinancing problem, the United States wouldn’t go to the IMF.”

Syrian army says it will press on against Islamic State near Aleppo

WORLD NEWS | Thu Feb 2, 2017 | 9:08am EST

Reuters

By John Davison and Tom Perry | BEIRUT
The Syrian army signaled on Thursday it would press on with operations against Islamic State northeast of Aleppo, in a veiled warning to Turkey which backs a separate military campaign in northern Syria.

Syrian government forces have rapidly driven Islamic State back in the last two weeks, advancing to within 6 km (4 miles) of the city of al-Bab that the jihadists are fighting to hold.

The army's gains risk sparking a confrontation with Turkey, which has sent tanks and warplanes across the border to support Syrian insurgents who are trying to seize al-Bab in a separate offensive.

U.K.’s Brexit Plan: Prepare for Failure, Hope for Success

by Tim Ross , Robert Hutton , and Alex Morales
2 February 2017, 11:31 μ.μ. EET
Bloomberg
Prime Minister Theresa May is making plans for emergency laws to protect the U.K. economy in case Brexit negotiations break down without a free-trade deal, as concerns grow that she’ll fail to achieve the sweeping agreement she wants.

In its 75-page plan for Brexit, May’s government said on Thursday that while it was expecting to find common ground with the 27 other members of the European Union, it will prepare contingency measures to avert economic chaos if the discussions collapsed.

Oil edges up on threat of U.S. issuing new Iran sanctions

Fri Feb 3, 2017 | 2:23am EST

Reuters

By Keith Wallis and Osamu Tsukimori | SINGAPORE/TOKYO
Oil prices edged up on Friday on news that U.S. President Donald Trump could be set to impose new sanctions on multiple Iranian entities, firing geopolitical tensions between the two nations.

Comments by Russian energy minister Alexander Novak that oil producers had cut their output in accordance with a pact agreed in December also helped support prices, analysts said.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Trump's administration is prepared to roll out new measures against more than two dozen Iranian targets following Tehran's ballistic missile test, according to sources familiar with the matter.

This Ancient City Would Still Be Among The Wealthiest In The World Today

By Sovereign Man on February 1, 2017 2:02 pm

Value Week

In the year 440 BC, more than two decades into the reign of Pericles, an audit of treasury in Athens showed a massive surplus of more than 9700 “talents”.

A talent was a common unit of measurement in the ancient world, especially for gold and silver.

And, based on today’s precious metals prices and the traditional gold/silver ratio (14:1) used by the ancient Greeks, 9700 talents is equivalent to about $700 million today.

At the time, Athens boasted a population of around 43,000 citizens and 28,500 foreign residents… so on a “per capita” basis, the ancient Athenian surplus amounted to just under $10,000 per person in today’s money.

Turkey and Greece Trade Jabs in Island Dispute

By PATRICK KINGSLEYFEB. 1, 2017

The New York Times

STANBUL — Turkey and Greece have reignited a decades-old disagreement over the sovereignty of a pair of uninhabited Aegean Islands, in a spat that analysts say risks aggravating other diplomatic disputes between the two countries.

The Greek defense minister, Panos Kammenos, flew over the two disputed islands on Wednesday, the Greek government said, in a pointed response to a visit three days earlier to nearby waters by the commander of the Turkish armed forces, Hulusi Akar.

The exchange is the most public disagreement over the tiny islands’ sovereignty since 1996, when soldiers from both countries landed on them before American-led mediation persuaded both sides to leave the area.

Europe gets creative to win banks after Brexit

Wed Feb 1, 2017 | 10:56am EST

Reuters

By Anjuli Davies, Andrew MacAskill and John O'Donnell | LONDON/FRANKFURT
Regulators in European countries competing for post-Brexit banking business are offering London-based banks a range of short-term workarounds to help them relocate, bankers, regulators and lawyers say.

Global banks have warned they might have to move their European bases from Britain if its departure from the European Union means they lose "passporting" rights to operate across the bloc under the supervision of just one member state's regulator.

Brexit negotiations have yet to start and will take years but big centers like Frankfurt and Paris, as well as smaller ones like Dublin, Amsterdam and Luxembourg, are encouraging banks, insurers and fund managers to consider moving to them.

Europe’s threat list includes jihadists, Russia — and Donald Trump

By Ishaan Tharoor February 2 at 1:00 AM
Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know?

The Washington Post

Nothing illustrates the crisis facing the world order more than a letter circulated this week by Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council. Tusk's message, addressed to the leaders of the European Union's member states, pointed to the other Donald, describing the Trump administration as one of the potential "external" threats facing Europe.

Theresa May Gets Parliament’s Backing on ‘Brexit’ Bill

By STEPHEN CASTLEFEB. 1, 2017

The New York Times

LONDON — Easily winning a crucial vote among lawmakers, Prime Minister Theresa May was well on her way Wednesday to winning the parliamentary approval that Britain’s highest court said she needed before she could begin talks on ending more than four decades of European integration.

Wednesday’s vote, in the House of Commons, will not be the final parliamentary verdict on Mrs. May’s plans, but with 498 lawmakers in favor and 114 against, it was emphatic enough to show that any subsequent efforts in Parliament to complicate, or slow, the path to withdrawal would probably be in vain.