World leaders meeting at the weekend’s G8 summit in the US are to focus heavily
on the European crisis Saturday, after President Barack Obama aligned himself
with the new French president’s drive for more economic stimulus.
...AFP - Leaders of the world's most powerful nations were to
focus their attention on Europe's economic woes Saturday after President Barack
Obama threw his weight behind French calls for more pro-growth policies. Obama
set the stage for a fractious G8 summit here by forging an alliance with new
French President Francois Hollande over the need to jolt Europe back to growth.
Fearing Europe's economic crisis is poised to worsen -- with dangerous
repercussions for the US economy and perhaps his chances of re-election -- Obama
weighed in, risking the ire of German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has
championed an austerity-first approach. Shortly before welcoming Merkel and
other leaders to the famed presidential retreat outside Washington, Obama noted
Friday that events in Europe held "extraordinary" importance for the United
States. The G8 needs to discuss "a responsible approach to fiscal consolidation
that is coupled with a strong growth agenda," he said. To kick-off the summit a
tie-free Obama greeted leaders shortly after dusk Friday at the threshold of his
wood cabin for an informal dinner that lasted more than two hours. But the
dressed-down atmosphere did little to relieve tensions, which have been stoked
by the belief that two years of painful cuts demanded by Germany and others have
undercut Greek growth and made recovery more difficult. In what may have been a
telling moment, Obama greeted Merkel at his Laurel Lodge with a cordial: "How've
you been?" When her response came: a shrug and pursed lips, Obama conceded:
"Well, you have a few things on your mind." Publicly European leaders have
attempted to smooth over the splits within the G8, insisting austerity and
stimulus need not be mutually exclusive. "We need to take action for growth
while staying the course in terms of putting our public finances in order.
Stability and growth go together, they are two sides of the same coin," European
Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said ahead of the summit. But with Greece's
fiscal crisis apparently approaching denouement, those good words may be sorely
tested....The euro zone crisis is set to dominate four days of intense diplomacy which began in Washington Friday morning and continued through a meeting of G8 leaders at the presidential retreat Camp David on Friday evening. Discussions will continue there on Saturday and on to a Nato meeting in Chicago.
In talks at the White House, only hours before the Camp David summit, Obama met the new French president, François Hollande, for a one-to-one conversation in which he explored the possibility of a new approach to the eurozone crisis based on a pro-growth, stimulus strategy. Obama has been pressing for such a strategy for the past three years and has a potential ally in Hollande.
The White House welcomed what it sees as a change in the debate since Hollande's election that tilts the balance slightly more in favour of a growth strategy. The French president is proposing an EU-wide financial transaction tax (FTT) that could raise up to €57bn a year that could be used to stimulate the 27-nation bloc. After meeting Obama, Hollande was scheduled to meet David Cameron in Washington before flying to Camp David.
However on arriving in the US, Cameron said: "On the financial transactions tax I'm very clear. We are not going to get growth in Europe or Britain by introducing a new tax that would actually hit people as well as financial institutions. I don't think it is a sensible measure. I will not support it."
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Barack Obama and the other G8 leaders wrapped up their negotiations on the European crisis at Camp David on Saturday with a pledge to keep Greece in the eurozone and to promote growth.
The communique, which had the growth promise at the top, represents a victory for Obama and the new French president, François Hollande, over German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has resisted calls for a stimulus package.
But it may be shortlived. The communique was short in detail and Merkel could re-establish her dominance next week at an informal European meeting.
The eight leaders meeting at the US presidential retreat in Maryland issued a communique declaring in its opening paragraph: "Our imperative is to promote growth and jobs."
It added: "The global economic recovery shows signs of promise, but significant headwinds persist. Against this background, we commit to take all necessary steps to strengthen and reinvigorate our economies and combat financial stresses, recognising that the right measures are not the same for each of us."
The communique was issued after almost four hours devoted to the eurozone crisis, which could have a negative impact on the US economy and Obama's re-election chances in November.
German-Greek relations were further strained on Friday after the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was heard advising Greece to hold a referendum on its membership of the euro.
Greek politicians reacted angrily, but Merkel's aides insisted she had not suggested a referendum during a telephone call on Friday with the Greek president, Karolos Papoulias.
The Greek government's spokesman, Dimitris Tsiodras, said: "[Merkel] relayed to the president thoughts about holding a referendum in parallel with the elections on the question whether Greek citizens wish to remain in the eurozone."
A German government spokesman rejected the idea that Merkel had proposed a referendum. "This is false and we completely dismiss this," he said.
Some commentators suggested that the misunderstanding was due to an error in translation. One said that Merkel had said that the 17 June elections in Greece would be like a referendum on the country's membership of the euro.
But Greek politicians criticised Merkel's perceived interference in Greek affairs.
Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the leftwing Syriza party that wants to renegotiate Greece's bailout by the EU and the IMF, said: "Ms Merkel is used to addressing Greece's political leaders as if the country was a protectorate."
Antonis Samaras, a conservative, also criticised Merkel's suggestion. "The Greek people don't need a referendum to prove they're pro-euro. Her idea is unfortunate, to say the least, and can't be accepted," he said.
They know that Greece is pretending to make reforms, but they are so terrified of euro collapse that they will keep propping them up with our cash for the sake of the euro no matter what it takes-Tsipras is absolutely right about that!
Greece will get all the international billions with no conditions attached!
Greece got them by the balls, through and through.
You have to give it to the Greeks-they are pulling off successfully the greatest blackmail in the history of the modern world,and it works!
Honestly, that's what the EU plasmodiums deserve for being spineless creatures they are,the laughing stock of the world.
I love it. So the two countries that originally refused to top up the IMFs funds, and the ones who said there was no help for Greece, now want to 'nurture' the recovery in Greece! And, one of them thinks a Greek exit from EMU would cause deflation that could damage it's economy for a decade or more.
Funny change of tune there Obama and Cameron. How exactly will those two financial titans be damaged by a Greek exit? Could it be their greed-driven, morals-absent, banks were flooding Greece with liquidity during the 2000 decade. And, could it be those loans were rehypothecated in London so that our savings are now at grave risk from a default? I wonder, but hang on, those were the countries who drove interest rates into negative real territory resulting in a decade long and MASSIVE debt binge? That binge bloated bankers savings accounts and remember banks loose money when they pay interest on savings and make profits when they lend OUR money and get paid interest. Hmmmm and are those the banks who pay us 0.5% interest on our deposits.
...lets think some more.
Which country lowered interest rates to a 1/2 then 1/4% ? And, what happened when their to-big-to-fail banks flooded Greece, Ireland and Spain with liquidity to fund real estate and public spending orgies? Nice of Goldman Sachs London to explain how Greece could increase sovereign debt levels to unsustainable levels using special vehicles that didn't show up in the ECB. All legal of course.
So what of the news reported above, I think this might be the most brilliant gambit ever, Germans have forced the crisis in Greece to reveal just how intertwined and twisted Greek loans are. Its a mexican stand off now.
As for me. I am biased by reading Haw Haw in the Telegraph ... so all I know is Greeks want out in the hope they can default like Iceland. Given the rise of EU sentiment in Greece and the UK think its time for them both to leave. Hold a referendum like Merkel suggests and build a stronger more integrated Europe without the the Trojan Horse that is London and the hopeless Greeks.
Oh, and Greece, think of the beautiful irony of being kicked out for you corruption and hubris only to have Turkey admitted in a decade or so! Think carefully when you vote (I want you in) and dont read the Telegraphs Lord Haw Haws.
Wow this is just ridiculous! Half the G8 are EU countries and now the whole club has put a statement that Greece should stay in the euro. In the same time in Brussels, the Eurogroup head(Junker) said to Fillipos Sachinidis(Greek finance minister) that if a vote was to be held, all 16 finance ministers of the Eurozone will vote for kicking them out of the Euro. Apparently Portugal,Ireland and Spain went berserk at the last meeting of the Eurogroup, explaining that their progress is being shattered to pieces every time Greece threatens to default,which is constantly the case with every EU/IMF tranche of cash. The Europeans are lying to the US and the rest of the G8. The EU is preparing and in fact planning a break up of the Eurozone and god knows what the ECB will fire at the markets on June the 17/18th. 85% of the 31 trill$ EU banking system will be wiped out, when Spain and Italy fall.
This is the moment when the current Lisbon Treaty will ceremoniously be thrown out of the window of Berlaymont building. Just like in the 90's and in 2008 Merkel will step in front of the Press in the Bundeskanzleramt and declare that the Treasury and the Bundesbank will guarantee everything and the eurobond will be introduced in less than 24 hours. It took only 7 hours to scrap the entire finance section of the German constitution in 2008 to organize the rescue of Bankfurt and since Bankfurt will need the 'mother of all bail-outs' on the day that follows the Greek election, it is obvious that the EU and especially the Eurozone will morph from a confederation of national states to a Federal state of nations under the images of stock market crash engulfing the entire globe. It is a gun to the head-either you join and 'make up' as Cameron put it or Europe stages collectively a default on the magnitude of 27 trill€ and condemns the entire world to 50 years of depression. It won't be just Brussels-Washington,Beijing,Tokyo,Ottawa,Moscow,Brasilia and the entire UN will phone Merkel,Hollande & Co. and demand that the Eurozone becomes a full fledged fiscal union ASAP.
Of course there isn't a plan B....there isn't even a plan A. These meetings are always a waste of time but on this occasion our leaders have really excelled themselves with their hot air and inaction. We can look forward to another week of declining stock market prices and currency volatility.
After three years of facing European leaders committed to deficit reduction, Obama has a new ally in Hollande. Speaking at Camp David, Hollande said European leaders were trying to balance the competing aims of reining in their budgets while stimulating their economies: "As President Obama noted, we need to pursue these two goals simultaneously: budgetary solvency and maximum growth."
Obama and David Cameron clashed with Merkel on Saturday, demanding she drop her G8 resistance to setting out a clear path for Europe out of its crisis. Measures resisted by the Germans included a looser monetary policy for the European Central Bank that would enable quantitative easing similar to that deployed by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
Cutremure puternice în nordul Italiei
Potrivit site-ului USGS, cutremurul a avut loc la ora 2.03 UTC (4.03 ora României). Replica s-a făcut simţită la ora 3.02 UTC şi a avut o magnitudine de 5,1 grade.
Amândouă seismele au avut loc la o adâncime de 26 de kilometri.
Potrivit CNN, cel puţin trei persoane au murit în urma cutremurului, fiind vorba de trei muncitori care au fost striviţi de prăbuşirea halelor în care lucrau.
În oraşul Sf. Agostino, cutermurul a dărâmat o clopotniţă.
Potrivit autorităţilor italiene, care încă evaluează daunele din regiune, se anticipează mai mulţi răniţi şi pagube pe măsură de echipele de salvare înaintează spre satele izolate din zona montană.
These so called "world leaders" don't represent me. They may think they do, but they don't. They abrigated that role by the deceit, the procrastination, the taxation and wastage, the mis-management, the out and out lies perpertrated.
Take a look at the lead photo in this article. They would'nt pass for a school board deciding on the schools yearly sandwich budget for their children. They have no legitimacy. It's over, they blew it, I and many others simply dont believe anymore
"Germany was left isolated after its Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke for the first time about a possible Greek exit early in the week."
Main outcome of the last meetings. Germany cannot play against the world again, for long.
The suspense is killing me. How much longer can they keep the € in the air? Sooner or later, it has to crash down to terra firma.
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db1915
32 minutes ago
For goodness sakes - let them go, and Spain, and Italy, and Portugal. Let them go, so that we can get on with our lives - without the euro.
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IslingtonBlue
49 minutes ago
Swap the term 'World Leaders' for 'Group of people who really don't have a clue'.
Greece should leave the Euro, everybody should. Why should the Greek's lose their right to self government and why should the Germans pay for the Greek's inability to contro their finances?
Greece out, Germany out. France, Spain, Portugal et al best of luck. If I hear one more left of centre 'leader' say 'we need more growth' I'll scream. From where?
Stop counting government spending as growth, it isn't, cut taxes, let people spend money on themselves instead of keeping a bunch of shysters in power.
Merkel in danger of being isolated
When Hollande made a pre-election promise to tear up the European Union's fiscal pact, of which his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy was so proud, it set the Socialist on course for a clash with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She insisted Europe must continue to take the poison when it comes to austerity.
FRENCH ELECTIONS 2012
World ponders Hollande's role on international stage
But the sands now appear to be shifting in Hollande’s favour. Instead of the Frenchman looking like he's in over his head, it is his German counterpart who appears more likely to cut a lonely figure at Camp David.
"Germany is absolutely isolated," said Domenico Lombardi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, in an interview with Reuters news agency.
Lombardi said the dire situation of Greece has shifted the focus of the debate and heightened the need for a different solution to the crisis.
Even Obama sensed the growing pressure on Merkel, commenting she must have "things on her mind" after she responded to his greeting with a resigned shrug of her shoulders.
Hervé Favre, in an editorial for French paper La Voix du Nord, said with Obama’s backing Hollande could now “pile the pressure on Angela Merkel”.
After Camp David, Hollande’s crash course in diplomacy will continue at a two day NATO summit on Sunday and Monday where Afghanistan, Syria and Iran will all be on the agenda.
The French president then returns to Europe, where he will once again come face to face with Merkel at a European Summit in Brussels on May 23. After this weekend, it's possible he'll go into that meeting with his head held high
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