BRUSSELS -- Unemployment across the 17 countries that use the euro remained
at its record high rate of 11.4 percent in August renewing concerns that efforts
to slash debts have sacrificed jobs.
While European leaders have calmed financial markets in recent months with
promises to cut spending and build a tighter union, they haven't solved the
eurozone's deep-rooted economic problems and the rising tide of joblessness. In
August, 34,000 more people lost their jobs in the eurozone, according to data
released Monday by the European statistics agency, Eurostat. The unemployment
rate – the highest since the euro was created in 1999 – is the same as July's,
which was revised up from 11.3. Europe's problems are dragging down the global
economy. The region is the U.S.'s largest export customer and any fall-off in
demand will hit American companies – as well as President Barack Obama's
election prospects. The U.S.'s 8.1 percent unemployment rate is already making
re-election an uphill battle for the president. The eurozone is in danger of
slipping into recession this year after its economic output dropped 0.2 percent
in the second quarter. Six countries in the eurozone – Greece, Spain, Italy,
Cyprus, Malta and Portugal – are already in recession. Howard Archer, the chief
economist for IHS Global Insight, said it will take some time before Europe's
labor market rebounds. "There looks to be a very real danger that the eurozone
unemployment rate could reach 12 percent in 2013," he said. He thinks that will
be the high-water mark, hit somewhere around the end of next year. While
austerity measures were introduced to ease the financial crisis by lowering
public debt, they are also slowing down economies as government spending drops
off. This is also pushing unemployment higher and threatening the continent with
recession. Some experts urge leaders to instead loosen spending to encourage
growth.
MEANWHILE - a dengerous development :
Turkey's military have struck targets inside Syria in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory which killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office said in a statement.
The mortar fired from the Syrian side into the region of Akçakale sparked an urgent round of meetings with military chiefs and led the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmed Davagotlu, to formally complain to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
"Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement; targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar," the statement from Erdogan said. "Turkey will never leave unanswered such kinds of provocation by the Syrian regime against our national security."
Nato said it was following developments and senior officials would meet urgently to discuss the issue. Turkey is a member state of the powerful body and earlier this year invoked a clause in the Nato treaty which called on it to respond to an earlier clash in which a Turkish jet was shot down from inside Syria.
The escalating border tensions came amid a day of grave violence inside Syria, with central Aleppo ravaged by three large explosions that killed at least 41 people and the capital Damascus again the scene of fierce clashes between loyalists and rebels and security sweeps by regime forces.
The Aleppo bombings were among the biggest seen in Syria in 18 months of uprising. Attackers, believed to have been dressed in military fatigues, are thought to have convinced regime soldiers stationed in Saadallah al-Jabiri Square to let them enter the secure zone. They are then thought to have detonated the bombs believed to have been packed into cars
MEANWHILE - a dengerous development :
Turkey's military have struck targets inside Syria in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory which killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office said in a statement.The mortar fired from the Syrian side into the region of Akçakale sparked an urgent round of meetings with military chiefs and led the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmed Davagotlu, to formally complain to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
"Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement; targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar," the statement from Erdogan said. "Turkey will never leave unanswered such kinds of provocation by the Syrian regime against our national security."
Nato said it was following developments and senior officials would meet urgently to discuss the issue. Turkey is a member state of the powerful body and earlier this year invoked a clause in the Nato treaty which called on it to respond to an earlier clash in which a Turkish jet was shot down from inside Syria.
The escalating border tensions came amid a day of grave violence inside Syria, with central Aleppo ravaged by three large explosions that killed at least 41 people and the capital Damascus again the scene of fierce clashes between loyalists and rebels and security sweeps by regime forces.
The Aleppo bombings were among the biggest seen in Syria in 18 months of uprising. Attackers, believed to have been dressed in military fatigues, are thought to have convinced regime soldiers stationed in Saadallah al-Jabiri Square to let them enter the secure zone. They are then thought to have detonated the bombs believed to have been packed into cars
8 comments:
If Spain is forced out of the euro zone can you imagine the French reaction to the cheap fruit and veg that will flood into their markets.
The past two nights on French tv there has been a big fuss over the English and Scots plundering the scallop fields.
France cannot fish until the 1st October and have strict limits.
No limits for us and we can start two months earlier.
This MUST be part of the crazy EU Common Fisheries Policy but not one mention of it in the news.
It's difficult to see this ending well.
The coming German elections...Right there you have put your finger on it. Merkel's strategy has been very consistent--Talk tough (to retain her high ratings from the public), demand and get all kinds of supposed concessions, let loose the money, then look the other way as the conditions are ignored.
Indeed this won't end well, but it won't end for a while either. Spain will get the money, mark it down.
Rajoy may not even ask for a bailout but to be sure the Spanish government will hold out as long as they can.
Why ? Because it they do request a bailout Rajoy will have to accept the conditions from Brussels, the men in black going though the books.
And that my friends will open up a can of worms that can never be closed. The truth will be told about how the political elites in Spain,how they have been running the banks, have been throwing money at the most stupid projects, have been taking back handers, about the corruption, the lies. Ask for the bailout Rajoy, go on.
the only way to end this mess will be through violence, perhaps the assasination of barroso as awful as it sounds might be necessary given that he will never cede power back to the nations, spain probably needs a revolution along with greece which definitely does.
The eu is not democratic, when people can no longer change their circumstances at the ballot box they will change them in the street.
The musical chairs game will eventually stop and eventually much will break. Germans will realise what a disaster the whole thing is and club med will realise the whole euro structure is never going to work. In fact it continues to get worse! In the meantime, EU politicians will do everything to hold the whole thing together with tacs and sticky tape. The top German finance professor who is the most respected in Germany has said eventually it will break and best to break it now.
However the EU-crats are not listening but as we are seeing the growing eruption in violence will turn nasty.
Spain is screwed whichever way you look at it!
What I just can't understand is what part of the Iceland story are the folks in euroland not understanding? I'm not talking about the EU hoard in Brussels, but the national leaders in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy. If each of these countries continue along the path they apparently are on, they will no longer be national leaders as they will have sold their countries to banksters and each will have traded in their "country" and become a vassal province to the true Brussels power. Don't these folks understand that once sovereign control of financial affairs moves to Brussels they will probably never get it back? Do they think Brussels will easily give up control of a cash cow?
Sad.
Merkel's Socialist opponent in next year's election has played his gambit that she isn't looking after Germany's financial interests prudently, so she's going to have to be careful as that's her strongest claim in the eyes of voters.
She must talk tough at the very least.
The problem is that it appears likely that Greece, Portugal and Spain are going to face industrial action likely to undermine all the austerity measures. Perhaps the strikers will become tired and browbeaten, or maybe it will escalate.
In many ways these debtor states like Spain are akin to drug addicts. They are hooked on being given cash and simply can't face the cold-turkey necessary to wean themselves off the opium of credit. Of course, this places the EU/ECB in the role of pushers - but then that in itself suits the EU/ECB as it ties these states ever more tightly to this corrupt centre and ultimately a federal Europe. It really depends on whether any of the debtor states has or can produce a leader of stature that is willing to go the cold-turkey route of reverting to a national currency to cure the core problem and give their country a better future. One thing is likely - the first one to do it will not be alone for long
Fear of escalating demands by Germany, Finland and Holland is a key reason why Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy continues to drag his feet on a full sovereign bail-out.
Spain's refusal to act has frozen the eurozone rescue machinery and begun to rattle markets. The European Central Bank will not buy Spanish bonds until the country requests aid from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and signs a "Memorandum" giving up fiscal sovereignty.
Finance minister Luis de Guindos told Spain's parliament Wednesday that there will be no bail-out until the terms are clear. "The government will take the best decision for Spain and its European allies when it knows all the details," he said.
Finland has become the greatest worry. "Rajoy is terrified that the Finns will say `No' after he has requested a rescue," said a Spanish economist with close ties to the Rajoy team.
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, head of the Grand Committee on Europe in Finland's parliament, said Finnish lawmakers must vote on any deal and would make their own decision.
The ECB will hold a press conference to discuss its decision at 1.30pm (London time), where president Mario Draghi could give some more detail on the bond-buying programme. And later this evening, the US Federal Reserve will publish the minutes from its September rate setting meeting, when it announced QE3.
Elsewhere, there are some key Spanish debt auctions this morning. And this afternoon, we'll get some data out of the US, showing jobless claims and factory orders.
f course Draghi and his EU creepies want to buy bonds (with OUR money).
1. The Spanish banks owe a fortune and are close to VERY broke. (like the French Banks).
Rajoy doesn't want Spain tramping down the stupid road the Irish, Portuguese and Greeks took - converting private Bank debt into the State borrowing the money from the corrupt EU and making it Public - as in taxpayer Debt.
Why should the taxpayers of the EU - once again - rescue private Banks.
The same banks (dominantly French and German) which tried to make a fortune overlending to the these countries in the first place, so that they could buy French and German products and services.
Merkel and Sarkozy, aided and abetted by these unmentionable criminals of the EU Commission turned the Victims into the perpetrators.
Don't these Banks have ANY responsibility?
Greece is in the firing line from the Germans again.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said all the crisis countries in the eurozone have made significant progress - except Greece. According to Reuters, he said Spain and Italy had made "grand achievements."
And - perhaps rather pointedly - he said when countries make the necessary reform efforts, they can be granted more time. Greece, of course, has been asking for more time to implement its budget cuts.
15:53 BST
Updated at 15:54 BST
Spain has not requested any financial support from the IMF, according to the latest snaps on Reuters.
But given the country's government is holding off on asking for a bailout following the recent falls in its bond yields - otherwise known as playing chicken with the markets - this is hardly a surprise.
An IMF mission is also due to talk to the Spanish government between 15 and 26 October over monitoring its banking sector, says Reuters, with a technical expert already in Madrid.
And to finish this IMF roundup, a spokesman said there was no timetable for the conclusion of Greek programme talks. So, after the US election then?
15:42 BST
As expected Portugal's government easily defeated a vote of no confidence in the wake of Wednesday's announcement of new tax increases to meet its bailout terms.
The main socialist opposition party abstained from the vote but anti-austerity critics called the tax hikes "daylight robbery", according to Reuters.
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