PAPA "RESIGNES" ...what's next ? No God ???perhaps GOD will follow ?????!!!

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonisations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me.

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

David Cameron has outlined the scale of his ambition to transform the terms of Britain's membership of the EU by calling for the UK to be exempted from its founding principle: the creation of an ever-closer union. In his long-awaited speech on the EU, the prime minister cast himself as a modern-day heretic as he pledged to challenge established thinking. Speaking at the London headquarters of Bloomberg, Cameron confirmed plans to hold an in-out referendum after the next election but warned: "The biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who advocate change, but from those who denounce new thinking as heresy. In its long history Europe has experience of heretics who turned out to have a point." The prime minister said that nothing would be off the table when he puts forward demands for the repatriation of a series of powers to Britain if he wins the 2015 general election. A new settlement would then be put to voters in a referendum by the end of 2017.

"I believe in confronting this issue – shaping it, leading the debate. Not simply hoping a difficult situation will go away," he said. The prime minister concluded by saying that he would campaign with all his "heart and soul" for Britain to remain in the EU if he succeeds in renegotiating its membership terms. "When the referendum comes, let me say now that if we can negotiate such an arrangement, I will campaign for it with all my heart and soul," he said.

But Cameron declined to be drawn on whether he would campaign for a no vote if he failed to secure changes in the negotiations. Downing Street had indicated in recent weeks, as the speech was repeatedly delayed, that the prime minister would not set out a shopping list of demands. But he made clear that he wants to challenge the central tenet of the EU: the pledge in the founding treaty of Rome in 1957 to create an "ever-closer union". The prime minister said: "We understand and respect the right of others to maintain their commitment to this goal. But for Britain – and perhaps for others – it is not the objective. And we would be much more comfortable if the treaty specifically said so, freeing those who want to go further, faster, to do so, without being held back by the others."

Cameron made clear that this could be achieved, in part at least, by fully implementing the Laeken declaration of 2001 which said power should be passed back to member states if that is their desire. "It was put in the treaty," he said of the 2001 agreement. "But the promise has never really been fulfilled. We need to implement this principle properly." The prime minister also made clear that Britain wanted to extend its opt-out from aspects of the working time directive. "It is neither right nor necessary to claim that the integrity of the single market, or full membership of the European Union requires the working hours of British hospital doctors to be set in Brussels irrespective of the views of British parliamentarians and practitioners."

The British are solely concerned about their economic interests, nothing else...OOOOKKK !!!!

The former European Commission president, who is credited as the architect of the modern EU and the euro, has broken ranks with other European leaders to offer Britain an exit from the Union.

"The British are solely concerned about their economic interests, nothing else. They could be offered a different form of partnership," he told Handelsblatt, a German financial newspaper. "If the British cannot support the trend towards more integration in Europe, we can nevertheless remain friends, but on a different basis. I could imagine a form such as a European economic area or a free-trade agreement." The comments will add weight to growing demands from Conservative backbench MPs and Euro-sceptics for David Cameron to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Europe and to bring back powers from the EU to Westminster. The Prime Minister has said that he supports continued EU membership but wants a "new settlement" which will involve Britain opting-out of justice measures and seeking exemptions to any further centralisation of power in Brussels...at last an honest acknowledgement that the goal is a federal europe. if there was any doubt about it monsieur delors has settled it once and for all. So now the way forward is clear. the choice is between being part of this federation and losing our independence and sovereignty, or coming out and retaining our sovereignty. and it is for the british people to decide, not the politicians.  There can no longer be any attempts to bamboozle the electorate with hypocritical talk of renegotiation. it is time for a referendum without further delay. The future is not further 'integration' and the assembly of a colossal superstate - the future is independence and individuality. Nowhere in the world do people think the same way as politicians and bureaucrats. Everywhere you see that when left to themselves, people want their own unique identity, control over their own environment and their own destiny. Bureaucrats believe 'bigger is best' while people know that small is beautiful. That's why the Berlin wall fell, why Slovakia split from the Czech republic, why the Baltic states went their own way; why Belgium had no government for over a year; why Scotland wants independence and why even California and Texas talk about seceding from the Union. Then one and only treason why bureaucrats want bigger and bigger is because it means more money for them. Like lawyers, they'll happily sell you down the river in return for 30 pieces of silver, or in the case of the EU, 300,000 pieces of silver. They're nothing if not greedy.  Britain should find its own way in the world. As a nation we are more than capable. We don't need thousands of regulations, tens of thousands of bureaucrats, mollycoddling or being told what to do all the time. We want freedom - freedom to invent, to explore, to create, and determine our own future. The EU project is at an end - it is time for us to create a nation fit for the future, fit for all our people to live and thrive in - a nation where we alone hold the reins and guide our own destiny. Just leave, it is only the corrupt who want us to stay in this corrupt organisation. The EUSSR must be with out any doubt the most corrupt organisation in the world. Why was my father and millions of others killed for our freedom, as I was told as as child. Was this just a lie, if not was was it? Did our government say this so control of us could be done in different way? Our government only has a white flag to wave at the EUSSR. I would now take up arms against this invasion of England, but the young of this country are brainwashed in believing in a none existent country. Europe is not a country it is a continent. People should Think, Think, Think, but no, that is not allowed.

If Delors thinks ' the British are solely concerned about their economic interests, nothing else' he is deluded. The British are concerned about their increasing inability to make and uphold their own laws, control their own borders , have an elected Parliament accountable to the electorate not a foreign governing body, and all other issues resulting from having the jackboot of the EU on its neck. There is also the little matter, not often in the news, of the plan to abolish England! Prezza was merrily engaged in working on EU plans to split England up into EU departments when he wasn't chasing his secretary round his desk. Kept that one quiet, haven't you Jacques?,,,The UK shall not exist as a nation state if it remains in the EU. Instead, we shall be a northern province of centrally ruled state run by unaccountable people who consider themselves a special priestly caste with unique access to the truth and what is good for everyone. Little people will be expected to genuflect to these Platonic Kings who know the real world beyond the dark cave of ignorance which is our lot. Those who shout for democracy will be seen as trouble makers and silenced accordingly because they will be attacking the dear leaders who, by definition, know the truth and do not need or want to be pestered by shouts from the ignorant. We ditched this sort of disgusting ignorance when we kicked out King James 1 in the Glorious Revolution. And, now, Cameron, Clegg and Milliband seem to want to junk several hundred years of political evolution to return to a primitive, unstable and very dangerous form of government lacking, even, the checks and balances extant in the late 17th century...Delors is right.... but it seems the ignorant, selfish and small minded politicians in Westminster are still trying to tell the rest of us that the UK system is substandard and should be junked in favour of the political disaster that is the EU....Simple response to any EU apologist like Delors. Do not believe them, these are the people who have destroyed currencies, installed puppet governments, created poverty for millions and replaced national sovereignty with EU sovereignty through an authoritarian EU.

These politicians loathe normal people and have absolutely no regard for our right to vote them in and out and have persistently lied and covered up the systematic selling out of UK sovreignty over the last 45 years.  They have betrayed us and think our rights can be disposed of as quickly and with as little compunction as a knifeman slits the throat of a calf in an abbatoir.

Britain is expected to lose its AAA credit rating this year, dealing a blow to George Osborne's defence of deep spending cuts as the key to retaining Britain's status with global investors.
Many economists predict at least one of the three main credit ratings agencies – Moody's, Fitch or Standard & Poor's – will declare the UK a bigger lending risk in response to the chancellor's admission in the autumn statement that austerity will run for at least eight years, until 2018, rather than the original five.
Those same economists largely agree that in a world where most developed countries have found life tough going, there will be little impact on the UK's creditworthiness. Like the US and France, which have already seen their pride dented by a demotion to AA, the UK will still be a safe haven for foreign cash, and thereby enjoy relatively low interest rates.
But lower growth and bigger borrowing add up to a greater risk that the UK will find 2013 tougher than expected.
All the major forecasters have downgraded growth for the coming year, including the Treasury's own Office for Budget Responsibility. The OBR's most recent outlook put growth in 2013 at 1.2% – down from the previous prediction of 2%. Not until 2017 does the trend return to a point where unemployment comes down in any significant way.
Part of the downgrade in growth stems from expectations of lacklustre investment spending by business. Without investment in new equipment, the economy is likely to suffer over the longer term. Osborne has promised a rise in public investment this year, partly to make up the difference, but only enough to make up a quarter of the total he cut in 2010.
In budget terms 2013 will be characterised by social security cuts, which are due to take effect in earnest after an initial focus on tax rises (the increase in VAT to 20%) and job losses in the public sector (more than 700,000 so far).

It's very possible that Berlin will have to absorb the costs of its bank bailouts. At the height of the financial crisis, the German government supported ailing financial institutions such as Hypo Real Estate, Commerzbank and WestLB with capital injections and guarantees amounting to nearly €180 billion. Large quantities of toxic assets were transferred to so-called "bad banks."

But it's questionable whether these banks will ever be able to completely pay back this money. If that is the case, the federal government will have to waive its claims and permanently absorb the debt.

Schäuble's team foresees the possibility of a similar development with the euro rescue. Indeed, "irrevocable ESM payment defaults" is one of the reasons they list for their contingency plans. Behind the bureaucratic jargon lies the concern that Germany -- despite the government's solemn statements to the contrary -- will have to pay for the euro rescue.

Germany is currently supporting the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to the tune of at least €190 billion. A portion of these guarantees and loans could actually be lost if Greece's government creditors forgive some of the country's debt. The losses to German public coffers could then easily amount to tens of billions of euros.

Consequently, Finance Ministry officials contend that the government will have to make cutbacks elsewhere in the future. Now, in a scenario that euroskeptics have long been warning about, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has finally admitted, for the first time, that to balance out the impact of the monetary crisis it will have to reduce expenditure for pensioners and people taking early retirement.

Greek finance minister: Bankruptcy is still a risk - Greece's finance minister has slightly deflated the sense of optimism as we ease into the Christmas break, by warning that the country faces another very difficult year.

Yannis Stournaras has cautioned against getting carried away by recent progress, pointing that things could unravel next year "if the political system finds the situation too difficult to handle".

He made the comments in an interview with the Financial Times, published just a day after Greece's credit rating was upgraded.

Stournaras is not all doom and despair, arguing that 2013 will be crucial:

We can make it next year if we can stick to the programme agreed with the EU and IMF.

But only if the Greek people accept the job cuts and austerity measures that were contained in the 2013 budget. Stournaras warns that this is far from guaranteed:

What we have done so far is necessary but not sufficient to achieve a permanent solution for Greece...The issue now is implementation.

As such, there's a 'possible risk' of Greece leaving the euro, he added, despite Athens having now received its latest aid tranche.

With bond yields falling sharply, and yesterday's general strike passing off peacefully, Greece has reached a calmer state. But it's going to be a grim winter for many Greeks - and Stournaras is clearly concerned that he may struggle to hit his deficit targets and improve the competitiveness of the battered Greek economy.

As he put it:

We still face the possible risk of bankruptcy.

But get through 2013, and the future will be brighter, he added.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti resigned on Friday after a year of battling the debt crisis with austerity and reforms and selling his nation to the germans as lawmakers gave final approval to a budget bill that will pave the way for early elections. Monti said earlier he would step down once the vote was approved, kicking off a campaign that will likely see Italy go to the polls on February 24, with former premier Silvio Berlusconi and centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani already in the running. After Christmas mass in the prime minister's residence, Monti joked about the end-of-world Mayan prophecy saying: "A year ago this government was only just beginning. Now we will have to wrap up and it's not the fault of the Mayas." He then addressed Italy's ambassadors abroad saying his speech would be his "last act" before handing in his resignation. "Thank you for these difficult but fascinating 13 months," he said. Monti could also join the campaign and is under strong domestic and international pressure to do so. He is expected to reveal his future political ambitions at an end of year press conference scheduled for Sunday. Sources close to the technocrat premier insist he has not yet decided whether to enter the fray, despite appearing to launch a bid for a weighty role in the campaign with a rousing speech at a Fiat factory on Thursday. Some political observers have said Monti could campaign as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition that has been likened to the Christian-Democrats who dominated Italy for decades. Monti's name cannot officially be on the ballot as he is already a senator for life, but he can still be appointed to a post in government including prime minister or finance minister after elections. The centrist agenda will include "historic reforms" and "far deeper liberalization than we have witnessed so far", sources quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily. Monti, 69, defended on Thursday the "bitter medicine" of budget discipline he has implemented as well as his selling his people to the "Fourth Reich" and warned against any attempt to turn back the clock. Another words, he wants a German governor and a nation of enslaved Italians!!!

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.

Consider these five portents of doom...

According to the ancient Maya, the world is going to end on December 21. Until recently, I wasn’t much bothered: I hadn’t made any plans for the New Year anyway. But now that the evidence is stacking up, I’m starting to think more seriously about heading for the nearest magic mountain and hunkering down with some baked beans and a shotgun. Consider these five portents of doom:

1. The North Koreans have released photos of a successful rocket launch into space, which confirms our worst fears: they’ve finally mastered photoshop. But, seriously, we have to admire the North Koreans for their remarkable persistence. This is a country that can’t feed itself and its only source of entertainment is a theme park that visitors have only a 1 in 3 chance of surviving. Yet it’s determined to put a satellite into space. What for? Are they so desperate to get access to Sky Movies and reruns of Seinfeld? Whatever the rationale, it’s unlikely that the North Koreas satellite will spark World War 3. But don't be surprised if the hamster powering it gets a dose of vertigo and it crashes back down to Earth, killing us all.

2. UFO sightings are up, although only in parts of America populated by drug-addled hippies. On December 3, a flying saucer was spotted in Brooklyn and on December 9, a “ballet of lights” was seen in San Francisco. Mr Barrios, who filmed the San Francisco sighting, says, “I am 100 percent sure this was a UFO.” Alas, he was also 100 per cent sure that he drank a lot of Tequila that night, and the consensus is that the alien invasion he witnessed was actually a parade of Chinese floating lanterns. Nevertheless, keep watching the skies!

3. Everybody’s got Great Ark fever. Dutchman Johan Huibers has completed a 20 year challenge to build a replica of the Great Ark, following instructions laid down by God in Genesis. Amazingly, it works, although Huibers has made some adjustments. The ark contains plastic rather than real animals and it probably wasn’t part of God's original plan to include two cinemas and a restaurant. Meanwhile, archaeologist Robert Ballard claims to have found proof that the Great Flood really happened, along with evidence of a submerged ancient culture. Actually, this isn’t as batty as it first reads – there’s a consensus among many world historical traditions that a large proportion of the Earth was covered in water at some point. The question is, will he find the Great Ark? And will it have two cinemas and a restaurant?

4. NASA has denied that the Armageddon is coming, which makes me suspect that it almost certainly is. If the Obama administration issues a statement to the effect that everything’s okay and there’s no need to panic, that’s your cue to head for the hills. And if America is suddenly submerged by 100 feet of water, the mainstream media will be on hand to remind us of the things that really matter: Mitt Romney once put a dog on the roof of his car and Sarah Palin’s kids are getting divorced.

5. Right now an enormous asteroid is flying terrifyingly close to the Earth. Yep, that’s right – the very thing that the crazy New Age people warned would happen … is actually happening. RIGHT NOW. We are reassured that there will be no impact, but I love that Fox News throws in this fascinating counterfactual: “Toutatis would cause catastrophic damage if it ever did slam into Earth. In general, scientists think a strike by anything at least 0.6 miles wide could have global consequences, most likely by altering the world's climate for many years to come.” Finally, we shall have an answer to “Whatever happened to global warming?”

On a serious note, it’s fascinating how the Maya prophecy has turned us all into fortune tellers. The science pages of many websites are filled not with stories about science but stories about magic: Vatican astronomers, underwater civilisations, mystical mountains and little green men. It proves that for all our supposed commitment to “reason”, we remain sky god worshipping cave men at heart. One in the eye for Richard Dawkins, I feel.

In conclusion....nada, nothing ...lots of hot air ...

European leaders wound up their final summit of 2012 on Friday in much the same manner as they started the year – kicking the euro crisis can down the road, playing for time, crossing their fingers, hoping the worst is behind them.

In almost three years since the Greek drama erupted in February 2010 and spread quickly around the fringes of the eurozone, the leaders have never quite managed to get ahead of the curve despite 22 summits and countless meetings of eurozone finance ministers.

This week's two-day summit in Brussels repeated the pattern. It was supposed to lay out a grand plan and timetable for reforming and stabilising the euro regime through a battery of federalising political and fiscal moves. In the event, the documents from the EU council president, Herman Van Rompuy, were shredded amid more clashes over fundamentals between Berlin and Paris, while an even more ambitious blueprint from the Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, was simply ignored.

"One wonders how these two gentlemen will enjoy Christmas," quipped Andrew Duff, the Liberal Democrat MEP and ardent European federalist.

Van Rompuy, who has had a very bad month, was told to come back in the middle of next year with a better, more modest plan. The mood was darkened further by German Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissing claims that the worst was over for the eurozone and stressing that the bloc faced two years of painful reforms, slow growth and high unemployment.

"The changes we are going through are very difficult and painful," she said. "We have tough times ahead of us that cannot be solved with one big step."

Despite the stalemate and the seeming complacency, leaders concluded their summit keen to list the year's achievements. And they do have things to brag about

Agreement on a eurozon banking union ...

France and Germany appear to have found a compromise on the scope of the ECB's new supervisory powers. The sticking point has long been the threshold at which the ECB would intervene - Germany argues that many of its regional banks are too small to warrant ECB attention. The summit's chairman, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, will try to get a commitment to launch the SSM in January 2014 at the latest. His vision for far-reaching eurozone integration is set out in a report, which will be the focus of the discussions. The report included input from the European Commission, ECB and Eurogroup - the finance ministers of the 17 eurozone nations. While banking union is the immediate focus, the report also proposes "contractual" arrangements between eurozone governments and the Commission, to prevent governments delaying, or reneging on, important economic reforms. The quid pro quo would be central financial support for specific reforms - "solidarity" money from a new eurozone budget, to which all eurozone members would contribute. Such a mechanism could in future help to ease the kind of chronic unemployment that is afflicting Greece and Spain. Only two EU members - the UK and Denmark - have formal opt-outs from the euro. The others still outside the euro are committed to joining, and can sign up to the banking union in the meantime. The leaders are likely to avoid any measures that could trigger treaty change before the European elections in mid-2014, because treaty change is nearly always a thorny issue for the EU. It took seven years for the EU to adopt the Lisbon Treaty. Germany's Constitutional Court has already flexed its legal muscles over eurozone integration. There is strong opposition in Germany and other richer eurozone nations to any further taxpayer-funded bailouts of indebted banks and governments. Chancellor Angela Merkel insists that the banking union cannot be rushed - and she does not want to jeopardise her chances in Germany's elections next autumn.

In a statement issued just after the London markets closed, S&P warned there was a one-in-three chance that it would strip the UK of its cherished AAA status within the next two years. "We believe this could occur in particular as a result of a delayed and uneven economic recovery, or a weakening of political commitment to consolidation," it said. S&P did not call for the government to abandon its austerity plans, but it warned that the deficit-cutting strategy will continue to undermine growth. "We continue to believe that government's efforts over the next few years to engineer the planned correction in the UK's fiscal accounts will likely drag on economic growth." It added that belt-tightening by debt-burdened consumers and weak investment by anxious firms were likely to continue to depress demand. Ministers, including chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, have played down the significance of a ratings cut in recent days; but the chancellor has pinned his political reputation on maintaining Britain's reputation as a "safe haven" for foreign investors. S&P's announcement came after Osborne was forced to announce in last week's autumn statement that economic growth has been far weaker than he hoped even in his March budget; and he now expects to flunk his self-imposed rule of cutting the public debt burden by 2015-16. S&P said its own calculations suggested the debt-to-GDP ratio, forecast by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility to peak just below 80% of GDP, could actually hit 100% of GDP - on its own definition - if the economic recovery continues to disappoint. Standard & Poor's rating agency announced it is downgrading Britain's economic outlook from stable to negative, hours after the chancellor defended his Autumn Statement before MPs. The ratings agency said it placed a negative outlook on the British economy to reflect its view that it could lower the country's rating within two years if fiscal performance weakens beyond current expectations. It cited "a delayed and uneven economic recovery, or a weakening of political commitment to consolidation" as possible causes for a future downgrade. S&P warned "if economic growth recovers more slowly than we currently forecast, due to domestic factors or waning economic performance by the UK's main trading partners, such slow recovery could result in net general government debt approaching 100pc of GDP, by our calculations, from its current estimated level of 85pc of GDP in 2012". The downward revision came just hours after chancellor George Osborne, speaking before the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, downplayed the importance of the UK's treasured top credit rating, describing it as just "one test" and not the key symbol of an economy's strength. “It’s one test alongside others and the ultimate test is what you can borrow money at,” said Mr Osborne.

The centre-left coalition of Prime Minister Victor Ponta is projected to win Romania's general election.

Exit polls gave his Social Liberal Union (USL) about 57% of the vote, as compared with just 19% for President Traian Basescu's Right Romania Alliance (ARD).
Mr Ponta said: "This is a clear victory with an absolute majority."
But he will have to share power with Mr Basescu, whose term runs until 2014. Official results are not expected until Monday. Mr Ponta and Mr Basescu have been locked in a power struggle since Mr Ponta came to power in April following the collapse of the previous centre-right government.
The two men have argued over control of state television and the Romanian Cultural Institute and attempts to draw up a new electoral law. Political decision-making has at times been paralysed.
In July, Mr Ponta suspended Mr Basescu and tried to impeach him. But a referendum failed to meet the required turnout.
Mr Basescu hinted before the election that he might refuse to re-appoint Mr Ponta as prime minister. He has described him as a "mythomaniac"....Mr Basescu's popularity has plummeted since he introduced stringent austerity measures and a 25 per cent cut in pub lic sector pay. The country, together with neighbour Bulgaria, are under special EU monitoring because of concerns about judicial independence, corruption and political influence in state institutions. Romania is trying to negotiate a new loan from the IMF to replace the existing one which expires early next year.

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s center-left government won a clear victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, according to exit polls. The result could inflame the personal rivalry between the nation’s top two officials and bring yet more political upheaval. The prime minister’s governing alliance had about 57 percent of seats in the 452-seat legislature, according to a poll published after elections on national television TVR. Coming in second was a center-right group, allied to President Traian Basescu, which polled over 18 percent. A populist party headed by a media tycoon won about 13 percent, according to the poll. First results are expected Monday. Basescu and Ponta are bitter rivals after the government tried to remove Basescu from office in an impeachment vote in July, a bid that failed as too few people voted to make the election valid. Basescu has indicated he won’t appoint the 40-year-old Ponta again, calling him a “compulsive liar” and saying he plagiarized his doctoral thesis. Ponta says Basescu is a divisive figure who overstepped his role as president by meddling in government business. As he voted, Basescu again accused the government of the former communist country of failing to devote itself to democratic reforms. He said Romania must continue its “path toward the West” and show the world it is “headed toward Brussels, not Moscow, and Washington, not Beijing.” For his part, Ponta said he remains committed to leading Romania to a better future. Many Romanians are fed up with the power struggle between the top two leaders, especially as the country remains one of the poorest and most corrupt members of the European Union. Romania is enduring deep austerity cuts in return for a €20 million ($26 million) bailout to help its foundering economy. Sunday’s vote was hampered by heavy snow and authorities asked the army and the defense ministry to help clear roads closed by blizzards. About 250 polling stations were prevented from opening on time, officials said. Turnout was more than 30 percent three hours before the polls closed.

 

IN EUROPE: Italy faces a return to political chaos - IN FACT , ITALY WANTS OUT FROM UNDER THE GERMAN BOOT - after Prime Minister Mario Monti announced at the weekend that he will resign, prompting his notorious predecessor Silvio Berlusconi to say he would attempt a comeback. The renewed uncertainty sent European shares into a slump as trading for the week began on Monday morning. Investors aren't the only ones worried, either. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told SPIEGEL ONLINE on Monday that the situation in Italy threatened to spark renewed financial problems in the euro zone. "Italy can't stall at two-thirds of the reform process," he said. "That wouldn't cause turbulence for just Italy, but also for Europe." Westerwelle's concerns were echoed by Klaus Regling, the head of the permanent euro-zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), who told German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung on Monday that he feared the heavily indebted country could abandon necessary reforms. "In the last year Italy has pushed through important reforms," he told the paper. "So far, the markets have honored that, although they have reacted with concern to the developments of recent weeks." The reform process must continue for the sake of both Italy and the entire currency union, Regling said. BERLUSCONI SHOUL GET iTALY OUT OF THE FOURTH REICH !!!!

Heil Merkel!.......

"We have laid the foundations to ensure that Greek debt, the most tortuous and destabilizing problem facing the country, has become manageable," Mr Samaras said in a television address, adding that Greece has "ensured its place in the euro." It came after eurozone finance ministers finally reached a deal over Greece's debt burden, enabling the release of its latest tranche of rescue funds. Markets breathed a sigh of relief as eurozone finance ministers finally reached a deal to keep Greece afloat through what was dubbed “bail-out number three”. After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in three weeks, the euro group settled on measures to cut Greek debt by €40bn (£32bn) and keep the country in the eurozone, a deal which lifted European indices in early trading. The agreement enables the release of the latest €44bn tranche of bail-out funds for Greece and was heralded by Antonis Samaras, the country’s prime minister, as marking a “new day for all Greeks”. ... German news see Merkel and the Deutsche Bundesbank - the state bank- as the winners of the deal....Why? Whereas the ECB is handing over the billions profit it made on Greek bonds to help out, the Bundesbank is pocketing the profits that will fill the German Federal Governments pocket. The Bundesbank is the institution that blocked a further cut to Greek debt, as it stated earlier in the week. Germany in spite of all appearances is benefiting from prolonged Greek misery, and has no wish to see Greece come out of the red. Heil Merkel!

BERLIN—Germany's opposition Social Democrats and Greens are set to block passage Friday of a Swiss-German tax accord, scuttling a controversial deal to get Swiss banks to hand over taxes owed by German citizens with secret bank accounts there.

The bilateral treaty was passed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition parties in the lower house of parliament, but the upper house, which represents Germany's 16 states, must still ratify the treaty for it to become law. The left-leaning Social Democrats and Greens, the main opposition in the lower house, have an effective majority in the upper house and can block the initiative.

Peer Steinbrück: Greece in worse shape than Merkel admits

Peer Steinbrück, head of Germany's opposition Social Democrats, has urged Angela Merkel to delay Germany's next budget until the uncertainty over Greece has been resolved.

Steinbrück (who could potentially form a grand coalition with Merkel after next autumn's elections) added that Greece will require assistance until the end of this decade.

He also warned that German taxpayers will ultimately pay the price.

Reuters has the news snaps, and now you do too:

• GERMANY'S STEINBRUECK SAYS CLEAR THAT GREECE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RETURN TO CAPITAL MARKETS IN THIS DECADE

• GERMANY'S STEINBRUECK SAYS MERKEL'S GOVERNMENT SHOULD PUSH BACK VOTE ON GERMAN BUDGET UNTIL THERE IS CLARITY ON GREECE

• GERMANY'S STEINBRUECK SAYS CANNOT FILL GREEK FINANCING HOLE WITH MIX OF PIECEMEAL MEASURES

A country isn't a business...

A country isn't a business, even though there are politicians who like to treat their voters as if they were employees. Politics is the art of mediating between the political and economic markets, convincing parliaments and citizens that economic policy promotes their prosperity and the common good, and convincing markets and investors that nations cannot be managed in as profit-oriented a way as companies.

After four years of financial crisis, this balance between democracy and the market has been destroyed. On the one hand, governments' massive intervention to rescue the banks and markets has only exacerbated the fundamental problem of legitimization that haunts governments in a democracy. The usual accusation is that the rich are protected while the poor are bled dry. Rarely has it been as roundly confirmed as during the first phase of the financial crisis, when homeowners deeply in debt lost the roof over their heads, while banks, which had gambled with their mortgages, remained in business thanks to taxpayer money.

In the second phase of the crisis, after countries were forced to borrow additional trillions to stabilize the financial markets, the governments' dependency on the financial markets grew to such an extent that the conflict between the market and democracy is now being fought in the open: on the streets of Athens and Madrid, on German TV talk shows, at summit meetings and in election campaigns. The floodlights of democracy are now directed at the financial markets, which are really nothing but a silent web of billions of transactions a day. Every twitch is analyzed, feared, cheered or condemned, and the actions of politicians are judged by whether they benefit or harm the markets.

German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag, citing the results of its own research, said Spanish banks had borrowed funds from the ECB at a preferential interest rate of 0.5pc even though the creditworthiness of the T-bills they provide as collateral should have required them to pay 5.5pc. The rating of some paper should have made them completely ineligible as collateral for the ECB, the newspaper added. "The ECB is investigating the matter," the bank spokeswoman said. At issue is nearly €80bn (£64.1bn) worth of 18-month T-bills the newspaper said had been wrongly classified as carrying a top-notch A rating whereas many are rated only as B by leading rating agencies Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's. "Dealings with certain Spanish government bonds casts doubt on the quality of the ECB's risk management... because the bonds pledged by the banks as security meet the central bank's requirements only in part," Die Welt am Sonntag said. If the bonds were downgraded further, the affected banks could have to produce other collateral amounting to as much as €16.6bn in value, Die Welt said....
I was wondering why Spain has not yet collapsed, why their ultra-risky sovereign debt was yielding only a measly 5.5%, how the Spanish government claims to have funded itself through till the end of 2013... here is the answer, cheap money from Mr Draghi at the ECB... the clown who has turned a central bank into a giant hedge fund... Banking 101, Mr Draghi, you are only supposed to lend money when there is a large likelihood you will be repaid with interest... or maybe you don't know that...Draghi will still have the last laugh, though... the EU taxpayers will be stuck with paying his more than generous pension... 

Francois Hollande will travel to Berlin with leaders for crisis talks on Tuesday after Germany said a Greek sovereign debt restructuring was “out of the question”.  On Monday, the French president met with Jim Yong Kim, head of the World Bank, and IMF chief Christine Lagarde, as well as leaders of the World Trade Organisation and the OECD, to discuss solutions for Greece, including a debt buy-back. The group will talk about the ideas with Ms Merkel on Tuesday.

European markets dropped ahead of the pivotal talks amid worsening bank problems gripped both Greece and Spain. Greek banks plunged almost 16pc after the finance ministry in Athens said that Brussels’ bail-out fund would not recapitalise the banks. The collapsed dragged the Athens exchange down 6.3pc.-- Are the German public finally being told the truth ?"For German finance expert Max Otte, such a debt haircut is nothing but an orderly insolvency and an acknowledgement of bankruptcy. "It's two words meaning the same thing," Otte said, "but there's no denying that Greece is bankrupt." So far, Germany has lent Greece some 80 billion euros by granting emergency credit lines or buying up sovereign debt through the ECB. A 50 percent debt cancellation, then, would leave Germany with a loss of 40 billion euros. It would be the first time that German taxpayers would actually lose money in an attempt to rescue Greece from bankruptcy. "Up until now, Germans have been told that their country was only assuming liability for a certain sum without taxpayers actually facing any costs," said Johann Eekhoff, the director of the Cologne-based Institute for Economic Policy".... 

The fourth REICH in full action according to the Ribbentrop - Molotov Treaty ... Europe is under the German boot !!!!..

Mario Draghi has defended his Outright Monetary Transactions plan to the Bundestag in the last few minutes.

Draghi promised German MPs that the pledge to buy unlimited quantities of bonds will dispel fears over the euro's future.

The ECB president also began his two-hour appearance in Berlin by repeating his line that politicians, not central bankers, must take the decisive steps to ensure Europe's future

Here's how Draghi defended the OMT, which he insisted did not put taxpayers at risk.

We designed the OMTs exactly to...restore monetary policy transmission in two key ways.

First, it provides for ex ante unlimited interventions in government bond markets, focusing on bonds with a remaining maturity of up to three years. A lot of comments have been made about this commitment. But we have to understand how markets work. Interventions are designed to send a clear signal to investors that their fears about the euro area are baseless.

Second, as a pre-requisite for OMTs, countries must have negotiated with the other euro area governments a European Stability Mechanism (ESM) programme with strict and effective conditionality. This ensures that governments continue to correct economic weaknesses while the ECB is active. The involvement of the IMF, with its unparalleled track record in monitoring adjustment programmes would be an additional safeguard.

The full statement has been uploaded to the ECB website.

Draghi also warned that deflation is a bigger risk than inflation today, which may not convince German lawmakers who fear a return to the 1920s.

Brussels- The EU agreement on banking union is "no triumph". The evidence sits hidden in plain sight in the difference between the summit text before and after yesterday's negotiations...

The summit deal on banking supervision was no triumph. It was another EU exercise in decision dodging and fudge as German procrastination won the day.

Angela Merkel wanted to postpone a new European Central Bank banking supervisor because that in turn delays decision on using the euro’s bail-out fund to recapitalise banks until after German elections.

To see the tricksy, evasive, responsibility-doging fudge – a tortuous linguistic exercise that went into the early hours of today – it is necessary to contrast before and after.

Here is the original draft that the leaders began discussing yesterday: “We need to move towards an integrated financial framework, open to the extent possible to all Member States wishing to participate. In this context, the European Council invites the legislators to proceed with work on the legislative proposals on the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) as a matter of priority, with the objective of completing it by the end of the year:”

Here is the agreed summit text: "We need to move towards an integrated financial framework… In this context, the European Council invites the legislators to proceed with work on the legislative proposals on the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) as a matter of priority, with the objective of agreeing on the legislative framework by 1 January 2013. Work on the operational implementation will take place in the course of 2013.”

This is no triumph. The EU has gone from a deadline to “complete” from one to “agree” with the schedule slipping from December 2012 to anytime next year. This will mean that Chancellor has deferred the issue of using the ESM to directly recapitalise banks until after elections in September 2013, significantly reversing a June summit decision.

European leaders early Friday agreed to have a new supervisor for euro-zone banks up and running next year, a step that will pave the way for the bloc's bailout fund to pump capital directly into banks throughout the single-currency area......
Friday's announcement is a disappointment for some officials at the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, who had hoped to have the supervisor operational at the start of 2013.
The leaders also discussed plans for a common budget for the 17 euro-zone nations that could be used to absorb economic shocks impacting one part of the euro zone but not others. But José Manuel Barroso, the commission president, said: "This is something for the medium and longer term.

The man who died in Greece :
The death came as protesters lobbed flares, petrol bombs and chunks of marble at lines of riot police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, in confrontations which have become all too familiar in the Greek capital over the last three years.

The clashes erupted in and around Syntagma Square, in front of parliament, during protests against a new wave of austerity cuts that the government plans to introduce in November.

"A 65-year-old man was taken to hospital where efforts to revive him failed," a health ministry official told the AFP news agency.

One report said the man had been found dead in Syntagma Square while another said he was found on a bench several hundred yards from the violence.