Indeed...

Indeed ... A form of  dictatorship is the only way that the EU CAN work. Fascism - where the state comes before the individual - same with the EU - the EU project comes before EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY else. It must not fail !!!! People eating out of bins in Athens....50% youth unemployment.....convicted murderers roming Europe at will.....who cares, so long as the Eurocrats get their fat pension - all in the name of 'a democratic Europe' - apparently. Let's hope the EU gradually disappears up its own backside. Is it really such a big deal for Greece to leave the Eurozone? Yes, they will default on their debts, but this is only virtual money and the debtors (ie Germany) were not going to see very much of it back in any case. There will be some months of turbulance whilst they create a new currency and agree on an exchange rate ....the average person will be better off as he will suddenly have a load of New Drachma's in his pocket ...the rich will keep their Euros in their various non-Greek accounts...but then the country can start to benefit from an influx of holiday makers and increased competitiveness for their industry, which is responsible for 60% of their exports. They will still be in the European Union and benefit from the open market....as will the rest of the Union....That's the worse case scenario for the EU. Other countries would see that life is better outside euro. Some countries would also want to exit and some countries that are meant to join would refuse to do so.   I want to think that Berlin and Paris will not cause any more pain on Greece, but on the other hand, if Greece exits and it is a success, the Francogerman monetary union can seriously collapse. So, I suspect that Berlin and Paris would still try to make life difficult for Greece outside the euro.

Opec's oil production is unlikely to change much in 2015 and there is no need to panic at the crude price drop, Opec's secretary general has said, adding to indications the exporter group is in no hurry to cut output.

Abdullah al-Badri said output of higher-cost oil supplies such as shale would be curbed if oil remained at around $85 a barrel, while the organisation enjoys lower costs and will see higher demand for its crude in the longer term.

The drop in the oil price to below $100, the level many Opec members had endorsed, has raised questions over whether Opec will cut supply when it meets in November. Mr Badri said Opec's output was unlikely to change much next year, adding to signs a decision to cut in November is unlikely.

"I don't think 2015 will be far away from 2014 in terms of production," Mr Badri said at the annual Oil & Money conference in London. "There is nothing wrong with the market."

Brent crude has dropped more than a quarter from above $115 per barrel in June as abundant supplies of high-quality oil such as US shale have overwhelmed demand in many markets, filling stocks worldwide.

Agreement among the WTO’s 159 member economies

Ministers meeting in Bali sealed agreement among the WTO’s 159 member economies for the pact, which eases barriers to trade by simplifying customs procedures, limiting agricultural subsidies, and promoting trade with least-developed nations. 

The deal could boost global trade by $1 trillion and create 20 million new jobs, keeps alive the WTO’s broader 12-year marathon Doha Round of trade negotiations designed to reduce international tariff barriers, well ...I've just found out that governments from the United States to Australia and from Canada to the EU are secretly negotiating trade deals that will give global corporations the right to sue our governments and overturn our laws.

Details have leaked out on what is called the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) that will massively expand the power of corporations to sue our governments.

Thousands of corporate lobbyists are helping to write these secret pacts -- but we're not allowed to see them. Governments know that we won't like these corporate power grabs, so they're hoping to keep them under the radar until it's too late to stop them. But if we can raise our voices now, we can expose these corporate charters and kill the deals forever.

Two secret new global pacts- the TTIP and TPP -could massively increase the power of corporations to sue our governments when they pass laws to protect our environment or our health. Unsurprised, its just four companies talking to each other - 8 largest U.S. financial companies (JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon and Morgan Stanley) are 100% controlled by 10 shareholders and we have 4 companies always present i...n all decisions: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and Fidelity - who control the Federal Reserve. The same “big four” control the vast majority of European companies counted on the stock exchange. These same people run the IMF, the European Central Bank & the World Bank. The 10 largest US financial institutions hold 54% of US total financial assets. 90% of US media is owned by 6 corporations. We will tell you what the news is - the news is what we say it is - it turns out it is not illegal to falsify the news. 37 banks have merged to become just four since 1990. We are speaking of 6, 8 or maybe 12 families who truly dominate the world (perhaps Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Loebs Kuh and Lehmans in New York, the Rothschilds of Paris and London, the Warburgs of Hamburg, Paris and Lazards Israel Moses Seifs Rome). With Google accounting for over 65% of all web searches in the US and over 70% market share in most other countries, the top 10 owners of Google’s stock are Fidelity, BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard Group, Capital Research, T. Rowe Price, Capital World, Alliancebernstein, Marsico Capital. This is the world we live in.

FRANKFURT—A top European Central Bank official said the ECB could make asset purchases if needed, as euro-zone policy makers increasingly float the prospect of deploying a tool that is commonly used by other major central banks but stirs deep divisions in Europe. The comments, by ECB Vice President Vitor Constâncio, are the latest in a string of assurances by top officials at the central bank that it still has an array of policy options in its arsenal, even after reducing interest rates to record lows earlier this month. Recent ECB references to the idea of asset purchases, known as quantitative easing, are "only as a possibility and nothing else. Everything is possible. That was what Peter Praet said," Mr. Constâncio told reporters on the sidelines of the 16th annual Euro Finance Week in Frankfurt."If our mandate is at risk we are going to take all the measures that we think we should take to fulfill that mandate," Mr. Praet, who also heads the ECB's powerful economics division, said in the interview last week. "The balance-sheet capacity of the central bank can also be used," he added. "This includes outright purchases that any central bank can do."The officials gave no indication that such a policy is under serious consideration now. Mr. Praet said in the interview that inflation risks are balanced after the ECB's rate cut, which brought its main policy rate to 0.25%. Mr. Constâncio on Tuesday said the ECB hasn't discussed how it would conduct quantitative easing technically. The euro largely shrugged off his comments.Still, simply raising the idea of quantitative easing marks a significant shift in rhetoric from the central bank. ECB President Mario Draghi sidestepped a question about the policy at his monthly news conference on Nov. 7, saying only that the ECB had "a whole range of instruments" that could be activated before hitting the floor on interest rates. It is "remarkable how the attitude of some ECB Governing Council members toward [quantitative easing] has changed," BNP Paribas BNP.FR +0.41%BNP Paribas S.A.France: Paris ^€54.01 +0.22+0.41% Nov. 20, 2013 10:29 am Volume : 575,621 P/E Ratio 12.83Market Cap€68.13 Billion Dividend Yield 2.78% Rev. per Employee €155,68211/13/13 BNP Paribas SA Buys Belgium's ...10/31/13 BNP Paribas's Interesting Lack...10/31/13 BNP Paribas Profit Rises Despi...More quote details and news »BNP.FR inYour ValueYour Change Short position economist Ken Wattret said in a research note. "What was once a taboo, then a last resort is now an option under consideration."

Angela Merkel's domestic policy in her third term will likely be confined to higher spending. But she has grand plans for Europe. SPIEGEL has learned she wants Brussels to have far more power over national budgets. It's a risky move that EU partners and the Social Democrats are likely to oppose.

In the end, the atmosphere became downright festive in the Berlin Hall of the Parliamentary Society, a building next to the Reichstag. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) had met there three times in the last three weeks to sound out whether they could form a coalition government. The decision was still up in the air.

Merkel gave SDP Chairman Sigmar Gabriel a questioning look, and said: "Would you like to say something?" But Gabriel beckoned to her to speak. "I have my delegation's support for what we discussed," she said. "So do I," Gabriel replied.

The grand coalition took shape shortly before 3 p.m. last Thursday. For the third time in postwar German history, Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, together with its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the SPD are preparing to form a coalition government. The talks are expected to begin this Wednesday. The chancellor is in a hurry because she wants to have a new government by Christmas at the latest. "Christmas will be here sooner than you think," she told fellow members of the CDU executive board on Friday afternoon.  At the beginning of her third term, Merkel has more power in Germany and Europe than any chancellor before her. There hasn't been such a strong majority behind a government in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, since the first grand coalition half a century ago. In the midst of the European crisis, Germany has become the undisputed dominant power in Europe.

The grand coalition will hand Merkel a majority she could use to shape Germany and Europe and address major issues, including constitutional reforms in Germany and the reform of European Union institutions.

Merkel, unlike SPD Chairman Gabriel, has been unchallenged in her own party since her election victory. Little is left of the accusations that critics had leveled at Merkel, except one: That she is a chancellor without an agenda, plan or vision; that her style of government is reactive rather than proactive; and that she doesn't know where she wants to take her government and Germany.

Big Plans for Europe - In the past, Merkel has treated governing primarily as repair work. The major issues of her first two terms in office, the financial crisis and the fight to save the euro, were suitable for that approach. Will that change, now that she has the necessary power and means? Hardly at all, when it comes to Germany. There are no major reforms in the works at government ministries, and the grand coalition will focus on increasing spending to fulfil some of the parties' campaign promises.

In contrast, officials at the Chancellery are forging plans for Europe that are practically visionary for someone like Merkel. If she prevails, they will fundamentally change the European Union. The goal is to achieve extensive, communal control of national budgets, of public borrowing in the 28 EU capitals and of national plans to boost competitiveness and implement social reforms. The hope is that these measures will ensure the long-term stability of the euro and steer member states onto a common economic and fiscal path. This would be the oft-invoked and ambitious political completion of Europe's monetary union -- a huge achievement.

It isn't a new goal, but what is new is the thumbscrews Brussels will be allowed to apply if Merkel has her way, including sooner and sharper controls and veto rights, as well as contractually binding agreements and requirements. In short, this would amount to a true reconstruction of the euro zone and a major step in the direction of an "economic government" of the sort the SPD too would like to see put in place.

Germany's current economic strength helps to explain these visions for Europe, since stricter budget controls wouldn't pose a threat to Berlin at the moment. Jobless levels are so low that the country has almost reached full employment, and the budget is in good shape, at least at the national government level. In fact, public coffers are so full that the government can afford to boost domestic spending.

More Money to Spend - And that's precisely what the members of that coalition intend to do. The first item on their agenda is to hand out benefits and spend money. Thanks to the strong economy, this won't even require raising taxes. In his financial planning for the medium term, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble anticipates growing national budget surpluses from the year after next: €200 million ($274 million) in 2015, €5.2 billion in 2016 and €9.6 billion in 2017.

In other words, the government will have an additional €15 billion at its disposal in the coming years. This gives Merkel and Schäuble the necessary leeway to fulfill the desires of the CDU/CSU and the SPD for more investment in infrastructure and education without having to raise taxes. There is talk of an €11 billion fund for infrastructure alone.

Prior to the election, Merkel and Schäuble had announced their intention to use the surpluses to pay off old debts. That won't happen now, and yet the conservatives are not plagued by a guilty conscience, noting that despite the additional spending plans, the country will still remain within its debt limit requirements.

The reorganization of the financial relationships between the national and regional state governments, which is on the agenda in this term, will likely be costly for the national government. Many states would have to cut billions from their budgets so that they can make do without new borrowing starting in 2020. Many state governors complain that it's a burden their states can't handle without national government assistance. They are hell-bent on demanding financial support from Berlin in return for agreeing to a reform of the system of transfer payments from richer to poorer German states.

The states' ability to block legislation in the Bundesrat, the legislative body that represents the states, will likely become costly for the new administration long before that. Merkel is worried at the way in which preliminary coaltion talks in recent weeks turned into haggling over money between the national and state governments. "We just had a national parliamentary election, not 16 state parliamentary elections," an irritated Merkel recently told the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.

There may also be a major restructuring in the way transport projects are funded, due to the states' lack of money. The CSU's pet project, the automobile toll, stands a good chance of being approved, since it would generate new revenues.

More Powers For European Commission - During the negotiations, CSU Chairman Horst Seehofer presented a plan for how the toll could become a reality. It calls for drivers to pay an "infrastructure fee" in the future. Germans would be able claim the fee as a credit against the motor vehicle tax, so that the cost could ultimately be imposed on foreign drivers. According to the document, prepared by Transportation Minister Peter Ramsauer, this would be possible under European law. The new coalition won't face serious resistance to its spending policies, not even from the opposition. With the elimination of the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) from the Bundestag, the voice of moderation in budget policy has disappeared. Only the economic wing of the CDU/CSU is likely to put up weak resistance. So Seehofer will get his toll, the states will be kept happy with financial gifts and the social security offices will hand out benefits. This doesn't exactly sound like an ambitious program for Merkel's second coalition government with the Social Democrats. Instead, it feels like more of the same, or a program of minor improvements, at least on the home front. But regarding Europe, Merkel is heading for strategic decisions and is likely to show more courage to take political risks than usual.

Schäuble, the last dyed-in-the-wool European among Germany's top policymakers, can be pleased. Merkel wants tangible amendments to the European Union treaties: more power for Brussels, and even more power for the much-criticized European Commission. "Unfortunately, there is no other option," say government officials.

Carrot-And-Stick Approach - Last Thursday, after the final round of exploratory talks with the SPD, Merkel brought European Council President Herman Van Rompuy into the loop in a private conversation at the Chancellery. It was a back-door initiative of the kind so typical in EU policymaking. Documents are already being put together at the German Finance Ministry over how "Protocol 14" of the EU Treaty could be beefed up. It currently contains a few general statements on cooperation in and control of the euro zone. But now, if Berlin is able to implement its carrot-and-stick approach, tangible powers for the European Commission will be added to the protocol.

For instance, the Commission could be given the right to conclude, with each euro country, an agreement of sorts to improve competitiveness, investments and budgetary discipline. Such "contractual arrangements" would be riddled with figures and deadlines, so that they could be monitored and possibly even contested at any time. In return, a new, long-discussed Brussels budget will become available to individual countries, an additional euro-zone budget with sums in the double-digit billions for obedient member states. Protocol 14 could also be used to install the full-time head of the Euro Group. The influential job is now held by one the member states' finance ministers, currently Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Devoted Europeans like Schäuble have long dreamed of installing a "euro finance minister."

Resistance Against Merkel's European Plans - If Chancellor Merkel is focusing on an amendment of this central part of the EU treaties, it is a remarkable about-face. Still, the new course is risky, and it has many detractors and an uncertain outcome. None of this is to the chancellor's taste, at least not the chancellor we know. But Merkel has already deployed her key European strategist. The relevant department head in the Chancellery, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, outlined the German plan at a Brussels meeting in early October. It didn't go down very well. Opponents of the common currency are rapidly gaining popularity in almost all euro countries. Every change in the balance of power in Europe and every upgrading of the European Commission make governments more vulnerable to domestic political attacks. More power for "Brussels?" No way. There are even growing doubts in the European Parliament, albeit for completely different reasons. Both leftists and conservatives fear that anyone who opens the door to amending the treaties "won't be able to close it again that quickly," says a top Christian Democrat. Especially the British government, driven by the radical, anti-European UK Independence Party (UKIP), could use the opportunity to retrieve powers from Brussels, essentially renationalizing the European Union.

The SPD could raise objections. "The SPD won't support any arrangements if Merkel conducts parallel negotiations with Britain's David Cameron to transfer EU powers back to member states," Axel Schäfer, deputy leader of the SPD's parliamentary group, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. He added that the SPD won't accept any treaty changes that relate to referendums in individual EU states.

The president of the European Parliament, German Social Democrat Martin Schulz, has already warned Merkel privately that he won't back any change in EU treaties. He wants national governments to make the euro zone resilient to future crises by using the instruments created step-by-step over the last three years -- without treaty changes. Schulz fears that a treaty change would take too long and that referendums necessary in some countries couldn't be won given current poor public sentiment regarding the EU. "We will check all the chancellor's proposals to see whether they can be implemented in all EU states," says Schulz, who will be part of the SPD's negotiating team in the coalition talks, responsible for all issues pertaining to Europe.

But Merkel seems undaunted by these obstacles. And she already has a timetable. First she wants to wait and see what happens in the May 2014 European parliamentary election. Then the new president of the European Commission will have to be chosen once the second term of the current incumbent, José Manuel Barroso, ends in 2014. Merkel got him the job and ensured he got a second term. But these days, she doesn't even bother disguising her contempt for Barroso.

Once the new European Commission is in office, the political window for Merkel's European vision is expected to open. It doesn't seem to bother her that she will be in a clear minority when she embarks on her reform plans. She is familiar with this position from the first days of the euro debt crisis, when she wanted to include the International Monetary Fund as a key authority in distributing aid packages, and almost all other euro countries were against the idea. At the time, she said privately: "I'm pretty much alone here. But I don't care. I'm right."

NIKOLAUS BLOME, CHRSTIANE HOFFMANN, PETER MÜLLER, CHRISTIAN REIERMANN, GORDON REPINSKI, CHRISTOPH SCHULT

Lagarde was a Minister in the French UMP party. A  coincidence that she is in favor of maintaining financial UMP - in other words funny money. Tapering or whatever euphemism one uses for reducing the amount of money printing is going to be painful as markets are forced to realize the price of debt. Exit strategies are mathematically impossible as we all  know the Central Banks could only withdraw a fraction of the funny money they created.
The UK needs a new bonanza on the scale of North Sea oil to allow any unwinding of QE. Without it there would be a severe depression.
Our fiat currencies have been hijacked by a financial community that operates in  a parallel world to the real economy. There is no way out of this mess unless the masses are driven into poverty and unrest or the global financial system collapses. 

Laggard and Blancmange should both be long gone, having perhaps irreparably damaged a global institution called the IMF by trying to turn it into a French version of a € lifeboat

"The day will come when this period of exceptionally loose monetary policy... must end," she said in a speech to a global gathering of central bankers hosted by the US Federal Reserve in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.

"We need to plan for that day, especially since we do not know exactly when it comes," said Ms Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

"Just as with entry, exit will take us into uncharted territory."

Speaking as the Fed's plans for slowing its $85bn-a-month bond-buying program have shaken emerging economy markets, Ms Lagarde said such "unconventional monetary policy" (UMP) approaches remained important.

"Let me say it up front: I do not suggest a rush to exit. UMP is still needed in all places it is being used, albeit longer for some than for others."

She said specifically that both Europe and Japan still have much to gain from such programmes, which mostly aim to enhance growth by pressing interest rates lower.

But she said the IMF and policy makers should be thinking about the ramifications of reeling in easy-money programmes.

"That includes the implications for global economic and financial stability: the whole system, not just one part of it."

My text may sound offensive, but such absolute opinions should be criticised strictly...

Angela Merkel has said youth unemployment is the biggest crisis facing Europe and urged other governments to do more to copy the German system – concentrating on apprenticeships and not simply academic study – to prevent the emergence of a "lost generation".

In an interview before a summit to tackle joblessness among young Europeans, the German chancellor said her country's tried and tested dual system – a mix of classroom learning and on-the-shop-floor work experience – was the best way forward at a time when almost six million under-25s in Europe are out of work.Typical Merkel, telling everyone 'you have to do it like we do in Germany'. The Chinese, Brazilian and German economies all have their own weaknesses that will surface sooner or later, they are not models for other countries.

Merkel eptiomises the smug, superior 'I 'told you so, we know better in Germany attitude' that appeals to the Bild reader but alienates everyone else. She's not capable of leading or setting an example in Germany let alone Europe. A leader withut any vision except beyond being reelected. Someone who turned down the invitation to attend Thtacher's funeral but a few weeks later found time to attend the all-German champions league final and cheered like a schoolgirl when Germany thumped Greece 4-0 in Euro 2012 shows she has no tact or diplomacy or sense of how her actions or behaviour are played out beyond her narrow constituency. She is not the leader of Europe's strongest nation we need. Unfortunately there is no one better on the horizon. Germany as a democracy is incapable of producing leaders of stature or vision....Merkel alone cannot push the solutions to youth unemployment in Europe. Other countries need to examine their own situations... How much nepotism plays a part in getting a job?
How can inter-generational mobility be improved, so that the young can look forward to better life?  How can the scam of unpaid internship be stopped?  Do the private companies have social responsibility in the period when public sector's ability is curtailed in the name of austerity?
Importantly, how can we embrace re-industrialization and leave behind the obsession with financial services sector, risk-taking with other people's money, and highly skewed wage-compensation structure? As we focus on manufacturing of surplus through production and innovation, we need to manufacture consent regarding distribution. We cannot expect to have healthy societies if we persist with the current model of production (outsourced abroad at the expense of domestic capacity) and distribution of rewards concentrated on one sector of the economy.

"Deutschland uber alles". ...

Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s finance minister, has criticized the Irish bankers caught on tape joking about the Irish banking system bailout, calling them “aloof super humans” who were worthy of contempt. The comments followed the released of transcripts of telephone conversation from 2008 between bankers at Anglo Irish Bank that have caused outrage worldwide. John Bowe, Anglo’s head of capital markets, and Peter Fitzgerald, director of retail banking, were heard laughing and mocking as authorities were preparing a rescue deal for the country’s teetering banking system. This has led to accusation that the lender suckered the Irish government into a €7bn (£6bn) bail-out knowing that much more was needed. The bankers are also heard singing a pre-war verse of the German national anthem, with the words "Deutschland uber alles".

Mr. Schaeuble's remarks are quoted in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine and echoed comments by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday. “These bankers seem to like themselves in the role of aloof super humans who only have contempt for their fellow humans,” Mr Schaeuble said. “Instead it is they who should get our contempt and to whose game we should put a stop.”

The Irish government was eventually forced to pump €30bn (£25.7bn) into Anglo and roughly the same amount into Ireland’s two other cash-strapped banks, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank – rescues that brought the entire Irish economy to its knees.

The Wall Street Journal flags up that weaker euro-zone governments would be able to borrow from the currency union's rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, to top up their own backstops. But it won't be easy: Taxpayer-funded bailouts will only be allowed under "extraordinary circumstances," when it is technically impossible to impose losses on certain creditors in a rush or when a government is worried about effects on financial stability, officials said. Such exceptions will have to be authorized by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Rich countries like Germany and Finland worked hard to make it as difficult as possible for poorer countries to tap the euro-zone rescue fund. Ministers agreed that the common fund could eventually be used to recapitalize failing banks directly, but only to protect depositors—not shareholders or bondholders—and if the bank's home government has run out of money. Speaking to reporters after the deal was agreed, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem argued it was a significant step forward: If a bank gets in trouble we will now, throughout Europe, have one set of rules on who pays the bill," he said. "The financial sector itself will now to a very, very large extent become responsible for dealing with its own problems. Dijsselbloem had been heavily criticised a few months ago for indicating that the Cyprus bailout (which forced massive losses on some large depositors) was a template for future rescue deals. He backtracked on the comments, but this deal confirms that the Cypriot experience could be repeated across the continent. And German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble confirmed this point, telling reporters: They can affect German savers just as well as they can affect any other investor in the world. France's Pierre Moscovici told the press pack that Europe's bailout fund could still be used for bank rescues (after creditors have been hit). Reuters got the quotes: French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici signalled that ministers also agreed to French demands that the euro zone's rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, can be used to help banks in the 17-nation currency area that run into trouble. It makes the whole thing coherent," said Moscovici. "It creates a solidity for the system and a system of solidarity.

TARGET2 - Legal base - A Decision of the ECB of 24 July 2007 concerning the terms and conditions of TARGET2-ECB (ECB/2007/7)

The Governing Council of the ECB decided to legally construct  a multiple system with the highest degree of harmonization of the legal documentation used by the central banks within the constraints of their respective national legal framework, named TARGET2.  All ECB legal acts related to TARGET2 can be found on a dedicated website. TARGET2 is the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system owned and operated by the Euro system. TARGET stands for Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system. TARGET2 is the second generation of TARGET. Payment transactions are settled one by one on a continuous basis in central bank money with immediate finality. There is no upper or lower limit on the value of payments. TARGET2 mainly settles operations of monetary policy and money market operations. TARGET2 has to be used for all payments involving the Euro system, as well as for the settlement of operations of all large-value net settlement systems and securities settlement systems handling the euro.  TARGET2 is operated on a single technical platform. The business relationships are established between the TARGET2 users and their National Central Bank. In terms of the value processed, TARGET2 is one of the largest payment systems in the world.

• TARGET2 had 999 direct participants, 3,386 indirect participants and 13,313 correspondents;
• TARGET2 settled the cash positions of 82 ancillary systems;
• TARGET2 processed a daily average of 354,185 payments, representing a daily average value of €2,477 billion;
• the average value of a TARGET2 transaction was €7,1 million;
• two-thirds of all TARGET2 payments (i.e. 68%) had a value of less than €50,000 each; 11% of all payments had value of over 1 EUR million each;
• the peak in volume turnover was 29 June 2012 with 536,524 transactions and peak value turnover was on 1 March 2012 with €3,718 billion;
• TARGET2’s share in total large-value payment system traffic in euro was 92% in value terms and 58% in volume terms;
• the SSP technical availability was 100%;
• 99.98% of TARGET2 payments were processed in less than five minutes.

Just a thought :

Europe just went through a debt crisis that was entirely avoidable. Iceland showed us the way in 2008, no sovereign debt crisis there.

Unemployment below 5%, 7 consecutive quarters of growth averaging 2.5% per annum as of January this year. More GDP growth than other Nordic countries.

No wonder the rest of Europe is disillusioned. People are fed up with paying through the nose for debts that don't belong to them.

The burden of banking debts is tearing apart social cohesion.

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel has been left red-faced after shaking hands with world leaders on a rug looted by Hitler's second-in-command Hermann Goering.

The rug is part of more than 2,000 items looted by the leading Nazi, who killed himself after being sentenced to the death penalty at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946.
An investigation by journalists working for news magazine Der Spiegel revealed the true history of the Persian rug, which has caused embarrassment for the German leader.  Mrs Merkel is preparing to make her third bid for power this Autumn, and is said to be furious with her aides over the revelations .  It is understood the rug will be removed from view by the end of the week.   The former state minister for culture Michael Naumann has now urged the government to force the return of Nazi looted items to their rightful owners or their heirs.
"The legislature must concretise their return," he said. "More money must also be used for research in German museums."    The timing of the revelation is even more embarrassing as it comes hours after Holocaust Memorial Day, held on Sunday January 27..... In a podcast on her website, Mrs Merket said: "Naturally, we have an everlasting responsibility for the crimes of national-socialism, for the victims of World War II, and above all, for the Holocaust.

We’re facing our history, we’re not hiding anything, we’re not repressing anything. We must confront this to make sure we are a good and trustworthy partner in the future, as we already are today, thankfully."It is unclear how another Goering carpet ended up in the chancellor's office in Berlin.  The West German government in 1966 declared the task of reuniting owners with their stolen property to be 'concluded.'
But tapestry from the same collection as the rug in Mrs Merkel's office adorns the walls of a government guest house on the outskirts of Bonn.

I have a feeling that this whole economic situation is going to end up with a "boy who cried wolf" scenario....there have been so many "crisis" stories since 2007 that no one cares any more, then one day we will wake up and the Euro will be on its knees ....then the media will be happy because there will be an actual crisis to report on !

In the mean time...A "French expansionary policy' would have to be paid for with German, Dutch, Finnish money. These payees may agree if as part of the package deal there was real external control at a federal level over spending in France (and Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece) and as a result of this control see a roll back of many aspects of the huge government spending in France where 65% of GDP is direct government spending. What the payees want is a reform of rigid labor markets and money to be spent on supporting projects that will employ people and not on cradle to grave government largesse beloved of French socialists. On the other hand, the French ideal is an agreement where they get pots of other peoples money to allow them to carry on exactly as they where doing and even expand the dirigiste state more. Mr Hollande made lots of election promises (eg hiring 65000 more teachers that he now he is President he knows France cannot afford. He would love Germany to pay. France (and others) will never give up an iota of sovereignty over their economy, so don't expect the Germans and others to agree to mutualize debts....Well...It is really all a big scam. Governments borrowing money that they know they wont pay back, banks doing the same, senior politicians and banksters all know that they will be retired soon, into the sunset with their golden pensions and pots of cash. They wont be around to live in the hell they have created. Meanwhile, the workers, the poor, the unemployed, the pensioners will all pay the price of rising unemployment, failed social systems and rising crime. Eventually there will be an overthrow of the current system, but the crooks will all be gone to Dubai, USA or some other capitalist entity that doesnt ask questions about how they got their money. I live in the UK, the poverty is visibly worse every day and our politicians do nothing. Same everwhere I guess. Pity. Within weeks of taking office at the start of the year he was flooding Europe's banks with €1tn in cheap, short-term credit. Was that the same cheap loan scheme that was known as LTRO? Long Term Refinancing Operation? Either way Angela seems to have it well under control. She will play it her way, loosen the purse strings as and when necessary. The Germans really couldn't give a damn but if, in their desperation, the EU wishes to place the future of Europe in her lap, who is she, a mere frau, to refuse? Interesting times. Time for us to think about where's the EXIT maybe?

Interviewed by the Guardian and five other European newspapers from France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland, Hollande also called for monthly meetings of the national leaders of the 17 eurozone countries to end the cycle of "so-called 'last-chance' summits", which he said in the past had led only to "fleeting successes".

He said domestic electoral considerations should not get in the way of solving the euro-crisis. Merkel "is very sensitive to questions of internal politics and to the demands of her parliament. I understand that, and can respect that. But we all have our own public opinion. Our common responsibility is to put Europe's interests first."

France's first socialist president for 17 years also rejected the idea that Germany was the only nation putting its hand in its pocket for everyone else.

"We're all taking part in this solidarity. The French, the Germans, just like all the Europeans in the ESM [the eurozone's new rescue fund]. Let's stop thinking that there's only one country who's going to pay for the others. That's false. However, I know the sensitivity of our German friends to the problem of supervision. Whoever pays should control, whoever pays should sanction. I agree. But budgetary union should be completed by a partial mutualisation of debts through eurobonds."

Hollande's assertion of the need for the eurozone to pool some of its debt through eurobonds challenged one of Merkel's red lines. She has repeatedly refused to countenance the proposal and there is scant chance of her shifting that position as she moves into an election year.

"We are near, very near, to an end to the eurozone crisis," said Hollande. But decisions taken at the last EU summit in June had to be implemented "as fast as possible".

The average European (Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Irish, Italian, even British and German) before paying one more coin to the government in taxes, need to ask for a full, popular and independent audit of all expenditures decisions which bring us to the present disaster. States lost their credibility. ... We need a big TRIAL, Nuremberg style. To find responsibilities for the present mess. All those rendered guilty for corruption and robbery expeditiously judged and jailed. Traitors, who plotted the enslavement of its own people by opaque schemes and treaties, irresponsible debts and high regulation and taxes, associated with foreigners powers and multinational interests, judged and publicly executed. All debts related with the submission of the nation canceled and remaining sound debts paid for the society even with utmost sacrifice. Otherwise people will not be cooperative with the current state of affaires. We need a new era of clean people, clean policy and clean money before we move to the next step. Let´s sort out who is who first. I think it would be a good idea to let the people get what they asked for. They want a socialist government and now it is time to reap the rewards. In a few weeks they will be broke and unable to borrow more money. Instead of cuts they will have nothing. It sucks but sometimes people can only learn the hard way....It is easy to blame the Greek man in the street for th e failures of his government to collecttaxes and t toleraate forms of corruption> votes or no votes he man in the street has little control over his governemt. So let us put the blame where it ddoes lie.
1. The greek government of the day who lied their way into the Eurozone in the first place.
2. Goldman sachs who created the fiddles whicj allowed thenm to lie their way into th eeurozone
3. The euro zone experts who should have been fully aware of the potential greek difficulties and did nothing.

The euro bailout fund (the EFSF) is to be leveraged up to €1 trillion (£878bn) but we are not told how.

JOURNAL DE DIMANCHE - Nicolas Sarkozy came under fire from opposition leaders for seeking China’s help to resolve the euro area’s debt crisis. “It’s shocking,” Martine Aubry, the general secretary of the Socialist Party, said in the Sunday newspaper, Journal du Dimanche. “The Europeans, by turning to the Chinese, are showing their weakness. How will Europe be able to ask China to stop undervaluing its currency or to accept reciprocal commercial accords?” Sarkozy reached out last week to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to build support for an enlarged rescue fund designed to solve the region’s sovereign-debt crisis. The leaders talked just hours after a euro-region summit on Oct. 27 ended with an agreement to boost the European Financial Stability Facility to about 1 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion), leveraging existing guarantees by as much as five times. French opposition party objections to a Chinese role come six months before the country’s presidential election, and amid growing concern about public debt in France and in Europe. France’s public debt, which is more than 80 percent of gross domestic product, and the budget deficit are considered by a third of the French as the most important issues confronting the economy, above purchasing power and unemployment, according to a poll published Sunday in Ouest-France newspaper.

Last night's farewell gala in Frankfurt for ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, who steps down at the end of the month, was a lavish affair by all accounts. The two-hour event at Frankfurt's historic Alte Oper concert hall, interspersed with musical interludes, was attended by a number of political dignitaries such as former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing and former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt who fell over themselves to praise Trichet as a great European. Schmidt, wheeled onto the stage in a wheelchair, used the opportunity to lash out at the "dramatic inability of the EU's political bodies to curb the dangerous turbulence and uncertainty". Only the ECB directorate, under Trichet's leadership, he said, had proved effective and able to act. "The constant talk of a 'euro crisis' is mere chatter on the part of politicians and journalists," Schmidt said. "In truth, we have a crisis in the ability to act of the EU's political bodies. This inability to act is a much bigger danger for the future of Europe than the over-indebtedness of individual eurozone countries." Trichet, who turns 69 in December, will hand over to Italy's Mario Draghi on 31 October. The farewell gala began with a short film spanning the Frenchman's eight-year reign and ended with a concert by the Mozart Orchestra under its founder and chief conductor, the legendary Italian maestro Claudio Abbado.

The Spanish and French bond auctions have gone reasonably well this morning. Spain sold €3.91bn of government bonds in its first auction since Moody's cut the country's sovereign rating by two notches on Tuesday. France sold €7.49bn of fixed coupon bond and is due to sell inflation-linked debt later, only days after Moody's warned its top credit rating could be under threat.

Germany(the IVth. Reich) takes over Greece, according to the Ribbentrop - Molotov Pact !!!

The European Commission Task Force, headed by Horst Reichenbach, launches officially today initiatives to support Greece proceed with reforms. This Task Force is considered more powerful than Troika’s team. This is a group of technocrats with Commissioner Olli Rehn as a direct supervisor. The team would consist of European Commission and EU member states officials, and requests for participation have already exceeded 500, according to Rehn. Middle-level executives have already visited ministries and public organizations seeking issues for technical support. Although, officially the main agenda item is the National Strategic Reference Framework, it is considered clear that the substantial objective is to implement the terms of Memorandum of Understanding and promote necessary reforms. The meeting between Reichenback and Greek FinMin Evangelos Venizelos is scheduled for Tuesday, the first day of his arrival in Athens, is considered indicative. The former vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a man of Barroso’s absolute confidence, while his team would include also representatives of Greece’s lenders, who can propose measures. EU officials say that the Task Force’s role would expand as time passes, while there would be increased collaterals in case Greece receives the next aid instalment and the second bailout loan. The aim is to avoid the repeat of slowdowns and delays in implementation of the memorandum, which provides reforms in public utilities and sector, healthcare system, insurance system, closed professions, etc. Many government officials anticipated this team in order to overcome intraparty and union pressures in areas of great influence. But there are also government executives who clamour for loss of national sovereignty in exchange for a new loan....And so, Germany(the IVth. Reich) takes over Greece, according to the Ribbentrop - Molotov Pact !!!

Moody's, the ratings agency, issued a warning to France last night that it could face the loss of its coveted status as one of the world's most creditworthy nations after saying the euro debt crisis and slowing world economy left the country's AAA rating under pressure. It said that while the French economy remained able to absorb normal shocks, "the government's financial strength has weakened, as it has for other euro area sovereigns, because the global financial and economic crisis." The warning will come as a shock to many in France and is likely to unnerve markets already anxious at the prospect of the euro debt crisis spreading to the US and Asia. Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, added to the uncertainty earlier in the day when he said detailed talks to solve the crisis were likely to go beyond a self-imposed deadline set for this weekend. He also hinted that a rescue deal will fall short of the "big bazooka" that markets believe is needed to prevent the currency club breaking up. Schäuble said a final package would not be in place until the G20 world leaders' summit in Cannes next month. His comments dismayed investors concerned that Berlin and Paris have failed to grasp the magnitude of the eurozone's debt crisis. Stock markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt fell, while in New York the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 247 points by the close of trading. A two-month flight of cash from European banks accelerated, according to analysts, while fears grew earlier that ratings agencies were poised to downgrade French sovereign bonds, increasing the difference between France's borrowing costs and those of Germany to the highest level since 1995. Oil prices, which had steadied after recent falls, turned downwards again and the euro fell against the dollar as investors sought safe havens. David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: "German officials clearly decided that a degree of expectation management was needed, and a statement was made warning that if anyone expected a package to be in place by next Monday then they were setting themselves up for disappointment." Markets were at fever pitch after the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said at the weekend that they would reveal a rescue plan this Sunday at a crucial European council meeting. The US treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, warned at the weekend it was crucial to agree a package of measures that would reassure markets and end 18 months of wrangling over how to deal with Greek debts. EU policymakers are due to meet this weekend in Brussels ahead of the G20 conference in Cannes on 4 November hosted by Sarkozy. The chancellor, George Osborne, said the Cannes meeting would be crucial in determining whether the global economy could maintain growth. "The biggest boost to growth across the world – and for Britain – would be a resolution to the crisis in the eurozone. Maintaining the momentum towards that will be the focus of my discussion with my international counterparts." Britain has ruled out participating directly in funding any scheme, though it is likely to become involved in a broader backstop plan put forward by the International Monetary Fund.

Berlin’s DIW institute, one of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s five official advisers, said attempts to boost the €440bn (£384bn) EFSF bail-out fund – possibly to €2 trillion – with guarantees to shore up southern Europe would be “poisonous” for France’s credit worthiness. Dr Ansgar Belke, the group’s research chief, said the leverage proposal emerging as part of the EU’s “Grand Plan” to restore confidence is self-defeating. “It counteracts efforts made so far to stabilise the eurozone debt crisis, which are premised on the AAA rating of a sufficiently large number of strong economies. In extremis, it would probably cause the break-up of the eurozone”, he told newspaper Handelsblatt. Berlin yesterday played down hopes of a major breakthrough as EU leaders rush to complete their plan before a deadline next week. Mrs Merkel’s spokesman said “dreams that everything will be resolved and dealt with by next Monday cannot be fulfilled”. European stock markets slid as traders took profits on the October rally, digesting Chinese data showing a sharp fall in new loans. Germany’s DAX fell 1.8pc, Italy’s MIB was off 2.3pc and the FTSE 100 eased 0.5pc. Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, said there would be no “definitive solution” but expected a deal to use an enhanced EFSF in “the most efficient way”. It is unclear whether such plans breach last month’s ruling by Germany’s top court, which said the Bundestag may not transfer “fiscal responsibilities” to EU bodies or take on “incalculable” liabilities beyond German control. Any change would need a new constitution and a popular vote.

The European Banking Authority (EBA), was conspicuous by its silence

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, will meet in Berlin on Sunday to debate whether a government must empty its pockets to prop up its country's struggling banks, or if the euro region's shared rescue fund can be deployed outside a full-blown emergency. one notch to A+ from AA- and cut Spain's by two rungs, to AA- from AA+, citing a worsening of the eurozone's debt crisis. "A credible and comprehensive solution ... is politically and technically complex and will take time to put in place," it warned.
A string of European banks, including the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB, saw their credit ratings downgraded on Friday, highlighting the pressure on politicians to agree coordinated action to recapitalise the sector.
Overnight deposits at the European Central Bank (ECB) made by eurozone banks reached their highest this year for the fifth consecutive day as banks become less willing to lend to each other, a warning signal of a credit crunch.
The European Commission is expected to offer an outline of a plan to member states before the deadline of October 17, when EU leaders meet for a Brussels summit.