Brussels, 29 June 2012 - EURO AREA SUMMIT STATEMENT - 29 June 2012 • We affirm
that it is imperative to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns.
The Commission will present Proposals on the basis of Article 127(6) for a
single supervisory mechanism shortly. We ask the Council to consider these
Proposals as a matter of urgency by the end of 2012. When an effective single
supervisory mechanism is established, involving the ECB, for banks in the euro
area the ESM could, following a regular decision, have the possibility to re
capitalize banks directly. This would rely on appropriate conditionality,
including compliance with state aid rules, which should be institution specific,
sector-specific or economy-wide and would be formalized in a Memorandum of
Understanding. The Eurogroup will examine the situation of the Irish financial
sector wit the view of further improving the sustainability of the
well-performing adjustment programme. Similar cases will be treated
equally.
• We urge the rapid conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding
attached to the financial support to Spain for overcapitalization of its banking
sector. We reaffirm that the financial assistance will be provided by the EFSF
until the ESM becomes available, and that it will then be transferred to the
ESM, without gaining seniority status.
• We affirm our strong commitment to
do what is necessary to ensure the financial stability of the euro area, in
particular by using the existing EFSF/ESM instruments in a flexible and
efficient manner in order to stabilize markets for Member States respecting
their Country Specific Recommendations and their other commitments including
their respective timelines, under the European Semester, the Stability and
Growth Pact and the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure. These conditions should
be reflected in a Memorandum of Understanding. We welcome that the ECB has
agreed to serve as an agent to EFSF/ESM in conducting market operations in an
effective and efficient manner.
• We task the Eurogroup to implement these
decisions by 9 July 2012.
I am with the faux Angela Merkel (Queen of Europe ) on this - using a fund that doesn't exist - and if not the ESM then who is picking up Spain's share of the ESFS?
Italy borrowing at 6% to lend to Spain via the ESFS at 3% sounds like a great plan. Or maybe it isn't.
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According to some*, it is alleged that bankers may have benefited by as much as $46 billion, thanks to the manipulation of the libor rates.
I realise that Barclays doesn’t stand accused alone, but if true, this is a MASSIVE criminal fraud for which a £290 million fine is nothing but a pathetically feeble slap on the wrist – it’s just not good enough – especially when you consider the draconian sentences handed out to those who helped themselves to a bottle of water or a pair of trainers at the other end of the social scale.
If the same judges applied the same sentencing logic to the banks as they did to looters, they would, potentially, be facing fines of £trillions or literally millennia behind bars.
It’s not good enough to leave it up to shareholders to hold banks to account. Alleged criminal activity deserves the legal scrutiny of a criminal investigation. I can’t believe how long it seems to have taken Vince Cable to acknowledge the obvious.
I think it was even suggested that a criminal investigation wasn’t appropriate because there was “no specific law” against manipulating the libor rates. Well there’s “no specific law” on the statutes which says that I can’t try to recreate the Cerne Abbas Giant on the grass of Wimbledon’s centre court, with the aid of a teaspoon and a bag of broken blackboard chalks – but there are laws against trespass and criminal damage, just as there are laws against theft and fraud.
LONDON—British Prime Minister David Cameron says he is prepared to consider a referendum on the U.K.'s relationship with Europe, an apparent move to appease some members of his Conservative Party, but one that could cause tension with his pro-European junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.
Mr. Cameron said he wanted British voters to have a "real choice" on changes in the country's relationship with the European Union, and that could be done via a referendum or a general election.
Laying out his views in an article in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, he said that he wasn't advocating a referendum on whether the U.K. should be in or out of the EU or that a decision on a referendum would be made any time soon.
In a survey earlier this year conducted by pollsters YouGov PLC, 48% of Britons who would vote in a referendum said they would opt to leave the EU while 30% would choose to remain a member.
Mr. Cameron's effort appears to be aimed at appeasing his party's backbenchers, some who are vocal in urging the U.K. to take a step back from its European relationship. Picking up on many of their key complaints, he said in his article that he believed the EU has too much bureaucracy and meddles too much in what should be national issues, adding that legislation covering social issues, working time and home affairs should "be scrapped."
Still, he was quick to say that leaving the EU altogether wasn't in the U.K.'s best interests.
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