On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I offer
our warm wishes to His Holiness Pope Francis as he ascends to the Chair of Saint
Peter and begins his papacy. As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable
among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired
the world for more than two thousand years—that in each other we see the face of
God.
As the first pope from the Americas, his selection also speaks to the
strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and
alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share
the joy of this historic day.
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Demonstration in Brussels on 14 March
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The march was banned by the police. The police doesn't want to give permission for our protest when European heads of states meet and further deepen authoritarian neoliberalism. We are still mobilizing! For now we call for an assembly at 3pm in Parc du Cinquantenaire at ETUC rally. We are evaluating the situation and further information will follow as soon as possible.
Join us in the Pan-European Demonstration in Brussels on March 14:
For a European Spring: Our democracy against their austerity!
It certainly feels a bit like Groundhog Day today, with a meeting with the Troika in Greece and a big bond sale in Italy leading the agenda.
The meeting of Greek's international lenders was supposed to happen yesterday but was postponed until today to give them a little more time to decipher the numbers.
Elsewhere, all eyes will be on the eurozone industrial production figures for January, which are expected to fall again and come hot on
When the US wakes up we have the country's retail sales figures which have been waning despite the recent boosts to the employment numbers.
We will also be keeping an eye out for the £/$ exchange rate to see if another new record for the plummeting pound will occur, and everything else that happens throughout the day.
Over to Spain, where workers for the Iberia airline have called off strikes planned for next week, the union has said.
The strikes were expected to cripple the airline and Spanish airports between 18-22 March, with two previous five-day walkouts costing the company, owned by IAG along with British Airways, €3m a day.
But the unions are said to have accepted a deal with mediators which include 3,141 job losses instead of 3,807, and higher redundancy payouts to those left unemployed.
Germany has agreed a spending plan which should see a structurally balanced budget in 2014. The Wall Street Journal reports:
In advance of a summit of European Union leaders later this week, the German budget plan is a "strong signal for Europe," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said Wednesday. Mr. Schäuble referred to the budget plan as a "growth friendly deficit reduction."
New federal borrowing in 2014 will be €6.4bn, according to the plan. Adjusted for swings in the economic cycle and contributions to the euro zone's bailout fund, that level of borrowing constitutes a structural deficit of zero, according to the finance ministry.
Without a contribution of €4.3bn for Europe's long term bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, Germany would have come close to a balanced budget in 2014, Mr. Schäuble said. Instead, Germany will achieve a balanced budget—requiring no new debt—in 2015, says the finance ministry.
Portugal dismisses concerns about troika review
Portugal has shrugged off concerns that the latest troika review of its bailout had not yet been completed.
The troika are into their third week when previous evaluations were finished in a fortnight. But state secretary Luis Marques Guedes told reporters:
There is no rule on the (timing) of the evaluations. Any announcement will be made when the evaluation is concluded.
Eurozone crisis live: Postponed Troika meeting takes place amid more violence
LIVE• Greek officials await latest €2.8bn of fresh aid
• Eurozone industrial production figures due to fall
• First long term Italian bond sale since downgrade
• US retail sales figures expected to be muted
Yes, yes, yes, we know.........but Messi played a blinder!
How in the middle of a civil war in Europe...North vs South can give a sustainable growth for anyone?
Ask USA, if their civil war, was the best time in their history.
Moneda europeana se tranzactiona joi in jurul orei 11 la un curs de 4,39 lei, dupa ce miercuri leul fusese impins in afara intervalului strans de tranzactionare de 4,38-4,39/EUR pana la 4,40/EUR in apropierea inchiderii sedintei locale. Explicatia ar putea tine, spun economistii ING, de scaderea cotatiei EUR/USD condusa de date divergente din Europa si SUA. Insa moneda locala nu s-a depreciat dincolo de pragul de 4,40/EUR, fapt care impreuna cu volumele relativ ridicate, puncteaza catre existenta temerilor legate de interventii ale bancii centrale in apropierea acestui nivel. Intrucat ne asteptam ca licitatia de titluri de stat pe un an si sase luni de astazi sa atraga cerere straina limitata, credem ca leul este inca vulnerabil in sensul deprecierii, insa persistenta temerilor legate de interventii oficiale ar trebui sa il mentina stabil. Asadar, prgnozam ca leul va oscila astazi intre 4,39- 4,40/EUR, spun economistii citati.
Ratele de pe curba de randamente FX swap au scazut intr-un mod impresionant ieri, cu scadenta ON aflandu-se momentan in jurul nivelului facilitatii de depozit, in vreme ce ratele la 1M s-au prabusit cu peste 50pb pentru a ajunge la 4,15%. Ratele pntru scadente mai indepartate au scazut mai putin, segmentul 3M-1Y fiind in continuare inversat, intre 4,50%-4,35%.
The eurozone as a whole has been in recession for more than a year and unemployment is now just under 12%.
France and some other countries want more flexibility in the budget targets set by the EU Commission, as austerity has provoked widespread protests.
France and Spain, hit hard by the debt crisis, expect to miss their budget deficit targets this year.
But Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel remains determined to keep Europe focused on budget discipline, to prevent any resurgence of market jitters about eurozone stability.
Cyprus, whose major banks are crippled by debts, wants to secure an international bailout of up to 17bn euros ($22bn; £15bn). There is unlikely to be a deal on that at the Brussels summit, as EU finance ministers are still working on the details.
A eurozone summit will follow the main EU summit late on Thursday. Foreign policy issues, including relations with Russia, will be the focus on Friday.
Proposals to deepen eurozone integration will dominate an EU summit in June. The first "building block" of that will be a banking union, which will give the European Central Bank (ECB) far-reaching supervisory powers.
Pope Francis has earned several firsts – he is the first Latin American pontiff and the first non-European pope in centuries. But the pioneering step most significant for church historians is his status as first Jesuit head of the Catholic Church.
By Amara MAKHOUL , VATICAN CITY (text)
It was an unusually short conclave with an unexpected finish. When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergolio from Argentina was declared the new pope on Wednesday evening, the announcement was greeted with astonishment from the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
The archbishop of Buenos Aires was widely believed to be the runner-up in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, and he was not high on the media list of papabili, or men who could be pope.
This is so meaningless and hollow it could be a balloon. Effectively all we have is a statement telling us that the EU is going to look at some proposals to cut red tape. In effect this means a few committees will be created - at taxpayer cost - and eventually a few backwater rules will be dropped. In the meantime enough new nonsense will have emerged that any so called cutting will be lost in the morass.
And lets be quite clear here. There was a 'concrete commitment to cut the EU budget.' The MEP's have since shot that down in flames and increased the call for more tax money and an actual tax direct to feed their open maws.
The only time I will believe any of this is when Cameroon stands up and gives us a referendum and then campaigns to get us out of this mess. The reality of that is vanishingly small so I'll be putting my mark against UKIP thanks.
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