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.

In Germany vs. Greece, who owes who?

By Anthony Faiola March 22 at 3:30 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-germany-vs-greece-who-owes-who/2015/03/21/e5872e18-cd7a-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html

BERLIN — In the Greek resort town of Nafplio, German tourists Ludwig Zaccaro and Nina Lange shocked the local mayor last week by walking into City Hall with a reparations check. The couple had seen a figure in the news claiming Germany owned Greece more than $74 billion for Nazi crimes during World War II — a figure they boiled down to $936 per German citizen.

“We thought, Germany should start by paying its own debts before demanding the Greeks pay theirs,” said Lange, a 55-year-old social worker.

Greece Continues That Slide Towards Grexident

Forbes

By Tim Worstall

It’s somewhat difficult to work out what is the negotiating strategy of the Greek side over this debt bailout deal. For it’s increasingly looking like that wonderful portmanteau invention of Schaeuble, the German finance minister, could be about to come true, Grexident. That is, Greece leaving the euro and the eurozone by accident, not by design. Everyone involved in the negotiations keeps insisting that this isn’t what they want to happen. But everything being done by the Greeks appears to be making this more likely. At which point one really does have to start wondering, well, is this actually being done by mistake or not? For it’s long been known that various of the Syriza people, the finance minister Varoufakis among them, privately think that they simply will not be able to reform the Greek economy as they wish to while inside the euro system. It’s just that the Greek electorate doesn’t think that way.

The bailout crisis: Germany’s view of how Greece fell from grace

Alan Posener

The Guardian

By Alan Posener

Sunday 22 March 2015 00.04 GMT

Athens’ defiance of austerity demands and recalling of wartime atrocities have angered Germans already worried about rising nationalism and economic decline.

Did he or didn’t he? Last week, the biggest media story in Germany was whether or not Yanis Varoufakis had flipped us the finger. After a video of the Greek finance minister “showing the stinkfinger” (as Germans put it) was screened on a talk show, a satirist claimed he had doctored the video and that the finger-flip was a fake. A day later he recanted.

Greece’s Tsipras Gets ‘Reality Check’ at EU Summit

 leader told Athens won’t get more money until much of its bailout program passes into law

By MATTHEW DALTON

Updated March 20, 2015 1:37 p.m. ET

41 COMMENTS

BRUSSELS—Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, came to Brussels on Thursday hoping to secure offers of desperately needed financial support from the currency bloc during a meeting with eurozone leaders.

Bond Markets Bet on Grexit

4 MAR 20, 2015 12:52 PM EDT

By Mark Gilbert

Two taboos about Greece's future as a member of the euro club were broken this week when  the German finance minister all but invited Greece to return to the drachma and the Dutch finance minister floated a temporary ban on Greeks' taking their money out of the country.

EU Asks Greece for More Reforms to Speed Aid Negotiations

by Rebecca Christie, Jonathan Stearns

4:05 AM EET

March 20, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- Greece must submit a more concrete reform plan to euro-area authorities so that bailout talks can speed up, European Union leaders said after nearly four hours of talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Brussels.

With EU chiefs warning that time is running out for Greece to overcome a standoff over aid, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said that the Greek government needed to submit new measures rapidly.

Greece to draft new reform plan within days - EU leaders

BBC

20 March 2015 Last updated at 05:57 GMT

EU leaders say Greece has agreed to come up with a new reform plan within days to secure the additional bailout funds required to prevent bankruptcy.

The development came after marathon talks between Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders in Brussels.

Opinion: Greece ready to play the Russian card

Market Watch

Published: Mar 20, 2015 3:01 a.m. ET

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-ready-to-play-the-russian-card-2015-03-20

EU intransigence may force Tsipras to seek aid from Putin

By

DARRELL DELAMAIDE, POLITICS COLUMNIST

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Greece is ready to play the Russian card, bringing a new geostrategic dimension to the euro crisis.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras moved up his planned visit to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to early next month instead of in May.

Dangerous liaisons

 The Economist

References to reparations and threats to seize German assets will not solve Greece’s economic woes

Mar 21st 2015

THE Greek crisis is not just an economic mess. Increasingly, it is becoming a geopolitical mess too. Alexis Tsipras, the country’s prime minister, whose radical-left Syriza party swept into government after January’s general election, has taken to tugging at crude political levers—from cosying up to Vladimir Putin to demanding war reparations from Germany—in the belief that this will somehow prompt concessions from the rest of the euro zone.

Does Greece want to get 'kicked out' of euro zone?

Holly Ellyatt   | @HollyEllyatt

19-3-2015

CNBC

With relations between Greece and its European neighbors at an all-time low, and the country's politicians appearing increasingly defiant in the face of criticism, analysts are questioning whether Greece actually wants to get kicked out of the single currency.

Encounters between Greece and the euro zone have become increasingly acrimonious over the last few weeks, as Greece's commitment to its bailout program and reforms has been questioned. Greece was granted a four-month extension to its aid program in February, but there are concerns over the pace of reforms implemented by the government.

EU to tell Greece time, patience running out

BY PAUL TAYLOR AND STEPHEN BROWN

BRUSSELS/BERLIN Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:25am EDT

(Reuters) - Euro zone leaders will tell Greece on Thursday that time and patience are running out for its leftist-led government to implement agreed reforms to avert a looming cash crunch that could force it out of the single currency.

Greece has been kept from bankruptcy by two international bailouts but now risks running out of money within weeks if it does not receive more funds. Greek banks reported the largest deposit withdrawals since Feb. 20, a sign savers are worried about the outlook for the country's finances and institutions.

How likely are capital controls in Greece?

Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem yesterday raised the prospect of potential capital controls in Greece. But how likely is such a scenario and what could bring it about? Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel investigates.

Raoul Ruparel

Head of Economic Research

18 March 2015+

Eurogroup sends Greece a warning message

In an interview with Dutch BNR Nieuwsradio yesterday, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said:

"It’s been explored what should happen if a country gets into deep trouble. That doesn’t immediately have to be an exit scenario…[In Cyprus] we had to take radical measures, banks were closed for a while and capital flows within and out of the country were tied to all kinds of conditions but you can think all kinds of scenarios.”

ECB Grants Greece Less Emergency Liquidity Than Requested

by Jeff BlackKarl and Stagno Navarra

11:01 PM EET

March 18, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank raised the maximum amount of emergency liquidity available to Greek lenders by 400 million euros ($435 million), less than the Greek central bank requested, people familiar with the decision said.

The increase was approved by the ECB’s Governing Council on Wednesday, the people said, asking not to be identified as the council meeting was private. Greece requested about 900 million euros, one of the people said.