No final decision on next tranche of Greek bailout expected
today, despite "broadly positive" Troika report ( Governor's Horst Reichenbach
report in fact).
The German finance ministry has declared that there is no chance of a deal
today on Greece's bailout programme, despite Athens approving its 2013 budget
last night.
Ministry spokeswoman Marianne Kothe told reporters in Berlin
that it wasn't realistic to expect a decision at tonight's Eurogroup meeting (of
euro finance ministers), particularly as German MPs must have their say
first.
Kothe said: Everyone is working under a lot of pressure to
resolve questions which are still open...I think it's rather unrealistic to
expect a final decision today as in Germany the Bundestag has to agree to it in
advance.
There are also reports this morning that Jean-Claude
Juncker, chair of the eurogroup, has also ruled out a decision this
evening.
The precise whereabouts of the Troika report on Greece is another issue ...
Germany's Kothe said today that she didn't think the final version was complete
yet...in fact The German (Fourth Reich's ) Governor of Greece - Horst Reichenbach made no comments
!!!!!
5 comments:
Europe's financial markets have not taken much cheer from the Greek budget vote.
This is the realization that a miniscule margin of Greece's spineless ruling classes have grudgingly allowed that they would like to have 31.5bn Euro handed over after all, and therefore the realization that the EZ will indeed hand 31.5bn Euros over to a group of people who have spent a good number of years collectively demonstrating that the money will be wasted.
Of course I could be wrong, maybe Greece is one the mend and the money will be a wise investment in the future, but given that a majority of the actual people with votes voted against both the austerity and the budget I'm not confident - in both cases the measures were carried by the 50 vote premium the ruling party gets.
Greece awaits bailout funds after passing 2013 budget
That's a bit early, not.
Olli Rehn stated yesterday, that not only austerity measures must pass the parliament, but also reforms have to be implemented, before new aid tranches will be paid.
Actually the EU will just be handing money to itself as it'll go straight to serviing the debt they already owe.
The behaviour on all sides is farcical. But the situtation isn't improved by spineless politicians kicking and screaming about it.
The choice is realtively clear; they can go their own way, or they can meet their commitments to their creditors. The fact that it isn't an easy choice is why a country needs leadership capable of facing and making difficult choices on behalf of its people in a way that demonstrates commitment to whatever path is chosen. Shame that Greece will have the manage without such leadership.
Well, yes, the government is running desperately short on votes.
Given that a majority of MPs voted against the budget and the austerity package I confidently predict problems in the implementation phase of this program, difficult though that might be to imagine.
When I first read about it I didn't quite have the realisation that the 50 vote bonus means that a ruling group can pass measures with a primary minority. Normally the ruling group can be expected to be able to summon an absolute majority, and the 50 votes is a nice bonus, but here the 50 votes was effectively used to offset the entierity of the junior members of the coallition, who really wanted nothing to do with the whole thing. Fine the ruling party gets it's way, as no doubt was intended, but here, with the requirement for long term implementation plans it does not look like such a good idea.
I am sure that they could do the necessary things, but they need to act together, on whatever path is chosen, and here there is no sign of that - they are acting with their own re-elections in mind.
Debt crisis: Leaders stall at €32bn bill for Greece
Greece may need a further €32.6bn (£26bn) of international aid if its austerity programme is relaxed by two years, European leaders were warned, in a report that triggered deadlock at a crisis summit in Brussels.
Greece may need an extra €32.6bn funding to cope until 2016 Photo: AP
By Louise Armitstead, Chief Business Correspondent
6:16PM GMT 12 Nov 2012
11 Comments
Just four days before Athens could default, eurozone finance ministers stalled on the decision to release the €31.5bn next tranche of aid because of divisions over the costs of funding Greece.
A draft of the long-delayed troika report on Greece said Athens would need €15bn of funding for 2013-2014 and then another €17.6bn in 2015-2016. The troika creditors, the European Union, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund, had estimated just €8bn of extra funding.
Athens, which was expecting the release of the vital aid having finally pushed through its 2013 Budget at a nail-biting vote on Sunday night, was instead plunged deeper into uncertainty and confusion.Eurozone finance ministers warned that if a decision weren’t reached over night, another summit maybe called tomorrow just 48 hours before Greece is due to repay €5bn of debt that it can not manage at the moment. The Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem: “We’ll not put ourselves under time pressure...The Greeks have left a lot of things until the last minute, so we’ll also take the time to consider where we are.”
Kathleen Brooks of Forex.com said: “After two and half years’ Greece remains a problem and it is hard to see the Eurozone remaining patient with Greece when its problems seem never-ending.”
Meanwhile, Istat said Italian youth unemployment leapt to 24-year high at 35.1pc. There were violent protests in Naples were the German Labour minister met his Italian counterpart. Protests also greeted Angela Merkel in Lisbon where she arrived for brief talks.
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