In case you missed this breaking through development: German Chancellor Angela Merkel must have got off her bed this morning in a cheerful mood and a teasing sense of humour. Speaking from far-away Berlin, Merkel sends her messages to world public in general and the citizens of bailout EU-countries in particular. Merkel said that: 1. “Painful …
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EU Commission: A Week Long Time-Out For Greek Bailout Talks
The representatives of Greece’s lenders, the so-called Troika, are leaving Athens, even though it seems that the negotiations on the spending savings package have not concluded yet. An EU Commission spokesman told reporters in Brussels, that the Troika “will be leaving this weekend and will return in about a week. the spokesman …
Read More »Olli Rehn: Greece Has Achieved More Than Is Often Realized
Greeks should be proud! For the compliments made by EU Commissioner for Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn. In an article he wrote for Wall Street Journal about the euro crisis, Olli Rehn wrote among others: “Over the last two years, Europe has made remarkable progress in addressing these imbalances. Consider the …
Read More »Open Letter to Mario Draghi (ECB): Difficult to Save the Euro, When…
Head of European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, is expected to announce some measures to save the euro. While the markets anticipate to hear the news, normal citizens and taxpayers of the European Union and the euro zone try to figure out what’s the importance of Draghi’s intervention and how these will affect …
Read More »Eurogroup Juncker Warns Greek Voters of “Unforeseeable” Consequences for EZ
I upload this post just in case you have missed some internvention from abroad to the democratic procedure of free Greek elections. Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker warned Greek voters no to turn their backs to euro. Speaking to Austrian newspaper Der Kurier, Juncker claimed that “a win by anti-bailout radical leftists in a …
Read More »German FM: Greeks with Retsina under Olive Tree? A Cliche…
Guido Westerwelle, German Foreign Minister, from neo-liberal Free Democrats Party (FDP) came to his senses. He apparently realized that the populists policies of FDP cannot save his party from the free fall*. After two years of sharp criticism towards Greece and while FDP chief Philipp Roesler finally found another playground …
Read More »First European Rating Agency on the Way
Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and all the other kids, that is the American rating agencies are about to get a European rival. German corporate consulting firm Roland Berger developed a plan to challenge the dominance of American firms that have thrown quite some euro zone member countries into deep red by …
Read More »Welcome to EU-Club! Minimum Wages for All to Boost Competitiveness
European workers and employees want money. No matter how unbelievable it sounds, workers in EU member states want to get paid for the work they do. Independently of how good or bad their work performance is. EU’s workers, employees, part-timers, one-day labourers claim, that the moment they leave home, go to work …
Read More »Rehn: Greece Joining the Euro in 2001 was a Big Mistake
“Greece’s participation in euro zone was a big mistake.” Instead of baking Easter cookies and paint some eggs, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn made some EU soul searching and came to this thoughtful conclusion. Ten (whole) years after. “European decision makers need to be cautious and the euro zone …
Read More »UN Expert: “Greek Austerity Could Violate Human Rights”
The appeal of a Greek citizen to International Criminal Court of the Hague raised some eyebrows and triggered some ironic comments. Can the Greek political leadership be accused of ‘genocide and crimes against humanity’ due to the harsh austerity? It is certainly an issue of definition. However, here comes United …
Read More »Venizelos’ Dilemma “PSI or Albania” Throws Greeks into New Identity Crisis
Greeks are deep identity crisis. They do not know who they are. They do not know if they are still Greeks or not. This has to do with the fact that national and international politicians want to turn Greeks into something else. Right after the elections of 2009, PM George Papandreou …
Read More »Olli Rehn: Greece’s Private Sector Wages Need Further Cuts (incl Photo-Report)
EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn told a Finnish radio that wages in the Greek private sector have not reduced by as much as Greece’s lenders consider to be enough to improve what they call ‘competitiveness’. Rehn’s statement comes the day the bill concerning the minimum wages …
Read More »EU Commission: Recession in Greece Deeper “Than We Thought! *Sorry for the Incovencience*”
This must be a joke. A bad joke. In fact, a very bad joke. Recession in Greece will lead within the EU with a massive 4.4 percent decline is the prediction of the EU Commission for 2012. This grim forecast comes just a few days after the new bailout was signed with the …
Read More »Eurogroup-Greece: Permanent Presence of Controllers, Constitution Amendment to Serve Loan Repayment
Greece is ‘saved’ by giving up some of its sovereignty by accepting a strong and permanent control mechanism, while a Constitution amendment will give priority to repayment of the loan. Instead of one powerful state commissioner many ‘little’ commissioners will be sent to Greece to monitor that the bailout terms are …
Read More »German FinMin: Blatant Intervention in Greece’s Democratic Procedures
The boldness of some EU so-called “partners” of Greece has apparently no limits. Just hours before the Eurogroup teleconference on Wednesday evening and after conservative coalition partner Antonis Samaras sent his written commitments to the country’s lenders, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble made a blatant intervention in Greece’s democratic procedures. …
Read More »British MEP Farage Angers German MEPs With “State Commisioner” Comparison
A mid-fight broke out between British MEP Nigel Farage and some German MEPs, including the German President of the European Parliament, after Farage compared Berlin’s proposal to assign a state commissioner to Greece with a word used by the Nazis. German Economic daily Handelsblat in its article “Farage: State Commisionner is like a “Gauleiter” …
Read More »Papademos Gets Coalition Gov’ Support – Greece’s Red Lines
Greece’s prime minister Lucas Papademos made his point of view very clear on Sunday after meeting the leaders of the three parties forming his coalition government. “If this process [ PSI, second bailout] is not completed successfully, we will find ourselves faced with the specter of bankruptcy which will have …
Read More »UPD: Strong Reactions: Greece Rejects “Budget Control Cede to EU”
Athens categorically rejected the German proposal to cede control over its budget to the European Union as a precognition for the second bailout, the rescue package for Greece. “We can never accept this. A similar proposal was made in the past by a Dutch minister. We do not even discuss …
Read More »FT: Germany Calls EU to Control Greek Budget
Germany pushes for the end of the Greek sovereignty and demands to cede budget control into the hands of Greece’s lenders. The German government wants not only to appoint a state commissioner but also to take control of the budget decisions of the debt-ridden country. In a shocking proposal obtained by Financial Times, …
Read More »UPD: Greek PSI Deal Reached with 3.75% Coupon?
The deal on the Greek bond swap (PSI) has been apparently reached, economic news portal Capital.gr reports. Quoting banking sources, Capital writes that the deal has been reached on a coupon with an average interest rate of 3.7%. At the same time there will be a clause for growth to …
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