Is The ECB Right To Play Hardball With Greece?

Forbes

By Raul Ruparel

3/26/2015 @ 10:06AM

The tensions between Greece and the European Central Bank (ECB) have been palpable for some time – years even. But they have recently become increasingly public and relations have become more strained.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has described the ECB as “asphyxiating” the Greek economy by depriving it of much needed liquidity. Unsurprisingly, this has provoked the ire of the fiercely independent (at least in his mind) ECB President Mario Draghi – reports abound of him shutting Tsipras down at a meeting on the side-lines of last week’s EU summit.

Charting Greece's Draining Coffers

12 MAR 26, 2015 10:26 AM EDT

By Mark Gilbert

Bloomberg

When Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem raised the possibility that Greece might need to impose capital controls in a radio interview last week, it seemed like a crazy indiscretion. Why would a senior member of the euro establishment effectively tell people "Hey, we're considering locking your money inside the country, so you might want to get your euros out while you still can," and risk accelerating outflows from the country's already enfeebled banking system?

Greece Hurries to Hammer Out Policies to Satisfy Creditors

The Wall Street Journal

Athens aims to submit overhaul measures by no later than Monday

By NEKTARIA STAMOULI in Athens and  VIKTORIA DENDRINOU in Brussels

March 26, 2015 4:49 p.m. ET

2 COMMENTS

Greece is hurrying to compile a list of economic overhauls that satisfies its creditors and secures desperately need bailout aid, as it runs increasingly low on cash and debt payments loom.

Key officials in Greece’s new government, led by the leftist Syriza party, were hunkered down in meetings Thursday to flesh out new economic policies with the aim of submitting a list of overhauls by Monday at the latest, senior officials said. Greece hopes that eurozone finance ministers can meet and approve the country’s overhaul program as early as next Wednesday.

How Greece’s Exit From Euro Could Happen

by Nikos Chrysoloras, James Hertling

12:01 AM EET

March 26, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- With the fight to keep Greece in the euro now in its sixth year, everyone is running out of patience. More importantly, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government in Athens is running out of money.

While bond yields suggest investors expect Greece to stay in the euro, economists such as UniCredit Bank AG’s Erik Nielsen say it may be just a matter of time before he’s forced to print a new currency.

A Greek Surprise

Creditors no longer fear that Greece might leave the euro.

The Wall Street Journal

March 24, 2015 7:32 p.m. ET

When Greece’s government struck a deal with creditors last month to extend its bailout, we warned that the next Greek crisis would come when that four-month agreement ran out and Athens’s failure to reform triggered a new crunch. Turns out we were optimistic. It took Greece barely four weeks to roll back to the cliff.

ECB’s Stournaras Says Greek Euro Exit No Option as Reform Sought

by Jeff Black

10:25 PM EET

March 25, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said a Greek exit from the euro area isn’t an option and wouldn’t help the country’s economy in the long term, as he urged the government to act quickly to agree on reforms with the country’s creditors.

“Grexit would deliver no benefit but a lot of pain,” Stournaras, who heads the Greek central bank, said at an event in London on Wednesday. “The new Greek government has a unique opportunity to implement bold structural reforms, which would be backed by a large majority of political forces in the country.”

Greece fails in bid for early cash release, reforms awaited

BY JAN STRUPCZEWSKI AND GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS

BRUSSELS/ATHENS Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:09pm EDT

(Reuters) - Greece failed in a bid on Wednesday to secure a quick cash payment from the euro zone rescue fund to help stave off potential bankruptcy next month, raising pressure on Athens to deliver a convincing reform program within days.

Athens had appealed for the European Financial Stability Facility to return 1.2 billion euros ($1.32 billion) it said it had overpaid when it transferred bonds intended for bank recapitalization back to the Luxembourg-based fund this month.

Greece Says It’ll Present E.U. With Planned Overhauls by Monday

By ALISON SMALE and NIKI KITSANTONISMARCH 24, 2015

The New York Times

BERLIN — Greece will present a detailed list of proposed overhauls to its eurozone partners by Monday, a government spokesman said, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met supporters and leading government ministers on his first official visit to Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany.

Greece promises list of reforms by Monday to unlock cash

BY GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS AND ANGELIKI KOUTANTOU

ATHENS Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:01am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece said it will present a package of reforms to its euro zone partners by next Monday in hope of unlocking aid to help it deal with a cash crunch and avoid default.

"It will be done at the latest by Monday," government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told Mega TV.

Greece's left-wing government and its euro zone creditors agreed last week that Athens would come up with a list of its own reforms, which must achieve a similar budget impact to measures agreed by the previous conservative-led administration.

Soros Says Greece Now Lose-Lose Game After Being Mishandled

by Tom Beardsworth, Francine Lacqua

8:00 AM EET

March 24, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- The chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50 and the country could go “down the drain,” billionaire investor George Soros said.

“It’s now a lose-lose game and the best that can happen is actually muddling through,” Soros, 84, said in a Bloomberg Television interview due to air Tuesday. “Greece is a long-festering problem that was mishandled from the beginning by all parties.”

Merkel Points Tsipras Toward Deal With Greece’s Creditors

 Patrick DonahueJonathan StearnsAnthony Czuczka

7:57 PM EET

March 23, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel encouraged Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to follow the path set out by Greece’s creditors, saying his country belongs in Europe and she wants its economy to succeed.

Deadlines Near as Greece and Germany Seek a Consensus on Debt

By ALISON SMALEMARCH 23, 2015

The New York Times

BERLIN — With time running ever shorter for an accord to ease Greece’s debt crisis and cash crunch, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany met on Monday and sought at least to take the sting out of venomous exchanges between Athens and Berlin in recent weeks.

Keeping Greece in the euro: Mission impossible?

CNN Money

By Mark Thompson

The make-or-break moment in the long running saga over Greece's debt is looming.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met German Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday in a bid to bridge a growing gulf between Athens and its European creditors.

Tsipras arrived in Germany -- the biggest single contributor to Greece's 240-billion euro ($262 billion) international bailout -- warning that Athens will find it "impossible" to avoid defaulting on its debt repayments without more cash from Europe.

Austerity Is Not Greece’s Problem

MAR 3, 2015 32

Project Syndicate

By Ricardo Hausmann

CAMBRIDGE – When looking out a window, it is easy to be fooled by your own reflection and see more of yourself than the outside world. This seems to be the case when US observers, influenced by their own country's fiscal debate, look at Greece.

For example, Joseph Stiglitz regards austerity in Greece as a matter of ideological choice or bad economics, just like in the US. According to this view, those who favor austerity must be obsessed with the theory, given the availability of a kinder, gentler alternative. Why would you ever vote for austerity when parties like Greece's Syriza or Spain's Podemos offer a pain-free path?

Greece worries leave Europe subdued, Asia makes gains

BY MARC JONES

LONDON Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:19am EDT

(Reuters) - Caution about Greece ahead of a meeting between its prime minister and Germany's Angela Merkel prompted a nervy start to the week for European markets on Monday.

Shares and currencies in Asia, in contrast, had rallied on easy monetary policy hopes and another tick down in oil prices.

Greece Faces Decisive Week as Tsipras Is Set to Meet Merkel

by Nikos Chrysoloras, Anthony Czuczka

12:00 AM EET

March 23, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the second time in five days on Monday, at the start of a week that may prove decisive for Greece’s future in the euro area.

'Moment of truth' for Greece and the euro as Tsipras arrives in Berlin

The Guardian

Helena Smith in Athens

Sunday 22 March 2015 20.06 GMT

Alexis Tsipras and Angela Merkel are to meet in Berlin for high-stakes talks that could prove to be decisive in the battle over austerity measures

When the red carpet is rolled out for Alexis Tsipras in Berlin on Monday, the euro debt drama will come to a potentially decisive turning point.

In Greece, Syriza Struggles to Deliver Promises as Money Runs Out

By JIM YARDLEYMARCH 22, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Glowering with disdain, Evangelos Venizelos stepped into the well of the Greek Parliament and ridiculed members of the country’s new leftist government. They had vowed to roll back unpopular austerity measures that Mr. Venizelos and the prior government had pushed through. They had promised that Greece would stop kneeling to European creditors.

Mr. Venizelos, once a powerful minister given the task of defending austerity, offered a disgusted opinion: Who are you kidding?

The Greece Issue Breeds Brinkmanship in the Eurozone

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMARCH 20, 2015

The New York Times

Nobody expected that the discussions between Greece and the rest of the eurozone about a new loan agreement would go smoothly. But things seem to be going even worse than expected, with both sides sniping at each other and refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations.

German media: Greece to remain liquid until April 8

A prominent German newspaper has reported that Greece has enough liquidity to last roughly two more weeks. If Athens fails to submit viable reforms by then, Brussels will reclassify the country's finances as "critical."

Deutche Welle

22-03-2015

According to the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS), EU Commission experts in Athens have confirmed that the country's coffers would be able to finance salaries and wages until the second week of April.