Greece crisis: Europe on edge over snap election

[TomandJerry]

Greek media are also reporting that Greece’s reform plan could include €12bn of cuts and tax rises -- several billion euros than previously expected.

And that’s because of the deterioration in the Greek economy, which plunged back into recession this year.

Enikos has the details says:

The report said that instead of growing by 0.5 percent this year, months of uncertainty and almost two weeks of capital controls meant “there are estimates of a recession of about 3 percent.”

 

[TomandJerry]

Greece’s jobless rate has dipped, but is still at depression-era levels.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April 2015 was 25.6%, according to Elstat, down from 25.8% in March 2015.

Greece falls deeper into deflation

There’s no escape from deflation inGreece. Consumer prices fell by 2.2% annually in June, down from a 2.1% drop in May.

This month’s figures will surely be even worse, given the imposition of capital controls at the end of June.

 

[TomandJerry]

Uh oh...

International observers have been telling us today that the package is likely to be so punitive that humanitarian aid cannot be ruled out.

EU president Jean Claude Juncker had mentioned humanitarian aid as part of the “detailed Grexit scenario” plans creditors had drawn up. EU diplomats based in Athens said some form of assistance is likely to be given even if am agreement between*Greece*its creditors is reached.

Syriza MPs have been telling our Helena Smith that the big no received in the referendum on Sunday was a “confidence vote” in Tsipras who like no other prime minister before now has the popular support to enforce such punitive measures.

That is not how the far far left (or indeed the far left in Syriza) see things. Strikes, rallies and protests should be expected in weeks ahead.



"We don’t yet know the details of Greece’s plan, but one report says there will be €13bn of fresh austerity. A heavy blow for the economy after years of recession, and the current banking shutdown."

 

[Hampster Gull]

Crazy. Tsipraschas said that the offer they have made to creditors is "marginally better" than the proposals put forward by creditors! He has walked a nation up a mountain and bottled it

 

[Triggaaar]

Crazy. Tsipraschas said that the offer they have made to creditors is "marginally better" than the proposals put forward by creditors!

Yeah that makes sense

 

[Guy Crouchback]

Unfortunately, Greeks laugh loudly as the EU will sink billions and billions in their corrupt country AGAIN.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/199338/...ors-approve-greek-bailout-request-source-says

Of course we all know that the promises of any reforms will be broken, and Greece will ask for debt reduction and more money over and over again...

...a dissapointing day for Europe and for all honest, hard-working Europeans: the Greeks and the EU have spat in their faces again.

 

[TomandJerry]

"It's becoming clear the main issue today are not the Greek proposals themselves but lack of trust in the Greek government. "

 

[TomandJerry]

Slovakia’s Peter Kazimir sees debt sustainability as “a huge problem’.

"He said the Greek proposals were enough for a second bailout programme but not a third."

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Big day today. I have always felt a half-way mutually agreeable deal will be stuck, although this is more hope than anything else now. Fingers crossed they can come to agreement.

 

[Beach Hut]

The issue is more if Greece gets a third bail out can they actually stick to the agreement which clearly they have not so far.

 

[Crispy Ambulance]

And on it goes. Until the next time. And there will be a next time!

 

[Hampster Gull]

And on it goes. Until the next time. And there will be a next time!

There will be a next time if some debt isnt written off

 

[Bry Nylon]

Giving more money to Greece is like asking an alcoholic to mind your pint while you go for a piss.

 

[Beach Hut]

Giving more money to Greece is like asking an alcoholic to mind your pint while you go for a piss.

Or taking an obese person to McDonald's, one thing is certain in this Germany will want Greece humiliated

 

[Hampster Gull]

Or taking an obese person to McDonald's, one thing is certain in this Germany will want Greece humiliated

You could argue they already have. The greece offer is more or less the one that they were offered and the country rejected, yet here they are requesting it

 

[Diablo]

I feel some are taking a rather flippant take on what is a very serious matter. Iwould like you to read a few stories I have heard.

Some years ago a small rural town in Spain twinned with a similar town in Greece.
The mayor of the Greek town visited the Spanish town. When he saw the palatial mansion belonging to the Spanish mayor, he wondered aloud how on earth he could afford such a house.
The Spaniard replied:‘You see that bridge over there? The EU gave us a grant to construct a two-lane bridge, but by building a single lane bridge with traffic lights at either end, I could build this place.’
The following year the Spaniard visited the Greek town. He was simply amazed at the Greek mayor's house: gold taps, marble floors, diamond doorknobs, it was marvellous.
When he asked how he’d raised the money to build this incredible house, the Greek mayor said:‘You see that bridge over there?’
The Spaniard replied: ‘No.’

Syria has appealed for international assistance today, after a boatload of 500 Greeks arrived seeking a better life.

What are the first three letters of the Greek alphabet?
I.O.U.

Alex Tsipras has said that Greece will "Bounce Back".
Just like it's cheques.

 

[TomandJerry]

Here’s something to chew on. A eurozone bailout, as Jennifer flagged up earlier, only needs 85% support if the situation is an emergency.

But some country’s have rather more muscle than others, reflecting their financial contribution to bailout funds. Many of the smaller countries only have a tiny share of the vote.

Finland and Slokavia may have hard-talking finance ministers, but when the chips are actually down, it’s France, Italy, and of course Germany who actually have veto power, while Spain just needs a few allies. The Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Austria also have enough power to influence a really tight vote.

 

[Beach Hut]

And the summit to decide everything is........................cancelled, correction they will only discuss the Greece issue

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33497353

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Here’s something to chew on. A eurozone bailout, as Jennifer flagged up earlier, only needs 85% support if the situation is an emergency.

But some country’s have rather more muscle than others, reflecting their financial contribution to bailout funds. Many of the smaller countries only have a tiny share of the vote.

Finland and Slokavia may have hard-talking finance ministers, but when the chips are actually down, it’s France, Italy, and of course Germany who actually have veto power, while Spain just needs a few allies. The Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Austria also have enough power to influence a really tight vote.

Some surprising figures there. So one of the faltering economies - i.e. Italy - is the third highest contributor along with Spain, also in trouble, in forth spot ??

While Luxemburg with all it's banking wealth and tax haven income contributes a small fraction more than Cyprus who nearly went bust. The EU Zone is quite clearly an economic basket case.

 

[TomandJerry]

"But the crisis runs deeper than that. Finland is refusing to back a third bailout, with eurosceptic coalition members threatening to bring the government down.

And Germany has drawn up a paper suggesting Greece should temporarily leave the eurozone. It doesn’t exactly dispel the idea that Berlin is pushing for Grexit.

The eurozone has been united for five months in the negotiations with Tsipras, but with the stakes rising greatly in the last 10 days, major divisions have surfaced, with the French working tirelessly to save Greece and the hardliners now pushing Greece’s expulsion for the first time openly.

The ministers faced formidable problems, said Schäuble, who argued debt relief for Greece, broadly seen as essential, was banned by the EU treaties: “Athens’s proposals are far from sufficient. The funding gaps are way beyond anything we’ve seen so far,” he said."