Thursday, December 20, 2012

Eurozone leaders met for the umpteenth time in October in their latest attempt to shore up the faltering economies of Europe and restore confidence in the euro.
Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, there has been an almost constant string of meetings among top policymakers in a concerted effort to resolve the debt crisis that has decimated the Greek economy and dragged the eurozone to the brink of its second recession in three years.
These include meetings of the Eurogroup, Economic and Financial Affairs Council (known as Ecofin) and European Council, as well as full-blown European Union summits.
And yet still the crisis rumbles on, with Spain looking increasingly likely to follow Greece, the Republic of Ireland and Portugal in seeking a bailout as it struggles to bring its debts under control.
So what have all these meetings, talks, lengthy negotiations and summits been in aid of? What have they actually achieved?
Bankers have long pilloried policymakers for their inability to get to grips with the crisis and implement effective reforms to solve it. But do they have a point?
Decide for yourselves with our handy summary of the major eurozone meetings held since Athens first called on its neighbours for help.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

MADRID—Nationalist leaders in Catalonia agreed to form a new government and hold a referendum on independence for the wealthy region, maintaining a push for autonomy that poses a major challenge to Spain's central government.

The deal signed Wednesday will allow Artur Mas of the conservative Convergence and Union party to be sworn in for a new term as the region's leader despite his stinging setback in the election last month he had called to gather support for independence. It puts him in an uneasy coalition with Oriol Junqueras of the Republican Left of Catalonia, traditionally more radical in its support ...

Anonymous said...

Yes and there was yet another article about ‘bad Greece’ on the BBC today (Greece neglect of migrants shameful-it is always about ‘Greece’, never the Greek government, but Greece in general, all of us!) Indeed, the conditions in immigrant detention camps in Greece are appalling. But so appalling are the conditions in Greek prisons, Greek hospitals, the homeless and hungry (Greek and immigrants alike). The Greek government’s (not Greece’s, but the Greek government’s) treatment of immigrants is shameful, just as is the Greek government’s treatment of its own nationals. Illegal immigration into Greece is not just a Greek problem, but a European one. I volunteer for the homeless in Athens and have been involved in the antiracism campaign too. I have spoken with many immigrants, none of them want to stay here, (where hundreds of thousands of Greeks and immigrants alike are already in the hunger zone), but they all complain that it is impossible to get allowed into N. European countries, which are their aim and dream. Yes Greece must accept her responsibilities, but why don’t other European countries accept their responsibilities too? It does not justify the Greek government's abuse of immigrants, but why don’t N. Europeans and the UK accept these hundreds of thousands immigrants onto their lands, if they really wish to help them… Why do they still deport them back to Greece, as the first country of entry, under the EU Dublin II convention? Without denying the extent of the maltreatment, but it is all too easy blaming it all on ‘bad Greece’ in general (even though, in the last three years, it is not exactly Greeks who run Greece. The troika has dictated every single detail of public and economic life, the immigrant detention camps are funded by the EU and the border police Frontex is also recruited and funded by the EU -so, why don’t they do something to really help immigrants rather than massive detention camps and border police?). Where was the caring foreign media a few days ago, when 20 people drowned in the cold Aegean while trying to cross the sea from Turkey to Greece? Loads die in a similar way every day, where is the international community to help them?? I found NOTHING mentioned in foreign press about the incident, I searched a lot. If they truly care about immigrants, they should see the problem in its entirety. If there is anyone today doing something about destitute and desperate immigrants in Greece, this is the Greeks themselves, those in the antiracism-antifascism front, who get beaten up by neonazis for speaking up and marching in antiracist demonstrations, those in voluntary organizations, those in solidarity initiatives, those in teaching and training, those in charities and homeless shelters and free meal hand-outs. But these ones never get covered by European media, who all go on and on about ‘bad Greece’

Anonymous said...

Avertizare COD GALBEN ŞI PORTOCALIU de ninsori şi viscol. Drumuri naţionale ÎNCHISE. Zeci de localităţi fără energie electrică astăzi, 09:32
Administraţia Naţională de Meteorologie (ANM) a actualizat avertizarea cod galben de ninsori şi intensificări ale vântului, aceasta fiind valabilă joi de la ora 09:30 până la ora 20:00 în mai multe judeţe din ţară. De asemenea, meteorologii au emis avertizări nowcasting cod portocaliu de viscol în judeţele Brăila, Buzău, Ialomiţa, Galaţi şi Vrancea.