What a shock. Listening to the news this morning it was clear to me that Shell has done slightly better than expected and the market was happy. In fact Shell is up 60 this morning. Imagine my surprise when I read the "shock horror" headline, and this from a, so called, Business Reporter. Not having read the accounts I am assuming that the "exceptional items" include a great deal of write downs which of course do not affect the cash position. More information and less hyperbole would have been helpful.  Royal Dutch Shell has become the latest victim of the oil price rout after it confirmed 10,000 jobs would be axed amid its sharpest decline in income in 13 years. Pummelled by low crude prices, income for the year slumped 87pc to $1.9bn.  The oil major said earnings on a current cost of supplies basis, its preferred way of measuring profits, tumbled 56pc in the final three months of 2015 to $1.8bn, compared to $4.2bn in the previous year.  The torrid quarter took its toll on the Anglo-Dutch group, dragging its full-year profit from $19bn in 2014 to $3.8bn - an 80pc fall. Excluding exceptional items, profits for the year came in marginally below market expectations at $10.7bn. Earnings in Shell's upstream business - which seeks out and produces oil - were hindered by “the significant decline in oil and gas prices”, the group said.  Ben van Beurden, chief executive, said: “We are making substantial changes in the company reorganising our upstream, and reducing costs and capital investment, as we refocus Shell, and respond to lower oil prices”.

The strong job growth in October paves the way for the Fed to hike the fed funds target rate in December... Job growth occurred in a range of industries last month, including professional/business services, health care, retail trade, food services, and construction.

Job growth has been strong for the past several years, while inflationary pressures remain subdued. In the past 12 months, job growth has averaged 230K per month. Average hourly earnings rose 2.5% year over year.  The Fed is very likely to raise the fed funds target rate in December. The strong of job growth implies that there is no reason to keep the fed funds target rate at near zero level. However, the pace of tightening is likely to restrained and gradual going forward as inflationary pressure remain subdued. Long-term interest rates should still stay at historically low levels, after rising slightly with monetary tightening, due to still low short-term interest rates, subdued inflationary pressures, elevated size of the Fed’s balance sheet, continued strong demand for safe assets, low long-term interest rates in overseas advanced economies and quantitative easing in the euro zone and Japan.”... USA jobs data, some odd anomalies which are difficult to interpret IMHO. There has to be a reason why corporate America has gone all gung ho, soft and cuddly over hiring the over 55's versus younger workers. Unless (puts on tin foil hat) there's something mischievous with the job figures and those over 55 are simply considered as working unless they state they're not. Perhaps it's just considerably cheaper to hire the over 55's...theories anyone?  In October the age group that accounted for virtually all total job gains was workers aged 55 and over. They added some 378K jobs in the past month, representing virtually the entire increase in payrolls. And more troubling: workers aged 25-54 actually declined by 35,000, with males in this age group tumbling by 119,000.  Since December 2007 workers aged 55 and older have gained over 7.5 million jobs in the past 8 years, whilst workers aged 55 and under have lost a cumulative total of 4.6 million jobs.

The faceless money men invent billions of Euros at the press of a button to lend the the Greeks - when (not if) they default, real Greek assets - gold, mortgage books, land, will have to be handed over as "repayment" - good business if you can get it. The Greeks will not be allowed to default until the country is stripped bare of all assets. This is the monitory system we now operate - money as debt...Please note that the Germans have "tabled the idea of a second €5bn bridging loan in order to extend talks with Athens. " The idea being to show the German taxpayer that all non-EZ countries will be forced to subsidise what is a solely EZ problem in order to save the blushes of Frau Merkel, by once again using the EFSM. As per usual we will hear all sorts of nonsense about how they are protecting the UK taxpayers' money by... giving more of it to the EU. At what point will they realise that this is all they want the UK in the EU for, money and nothing else. All of the nonsense that Cameron et alia spout about the UK being at the heart of the EU is worthless, it is time to leave this fatally flawed institution.  How the supposedly left wing anti-Capitalist Greek government cannot see this I do not know. Defaulting is the Greeks' only hope - but they will not be allowed to.  The biggest victim of a cut in Greek defense spending wil be the German armaments industry who foisted their goods on the country in the first place. In fact the whole of German manufacturing will be affected by guts in Greek spending. Why don't the German banks just cut out the middle man and just buy German goods directly rather that go to the bother of lending the Greek government money which ot just gives to the population to buy German cars and then take a hair cut on the loans! It's a pretty old trick. Disguise the real problem by burying it inside a pile of bullshit.  It's fraud and if any euro country accepts the terms of this fairy story, they are guilty of financial deception.  This is such a shameless distortion of monetary discipline that the perpetrators can have no possible creditworthiness in the governance of the European Union, and if the Chinese wish to waste their currency on the Greek problem, more fool them  And they are no fools, so I don't believe the scaremongering put about by the Americans....The Greeks are playing another blinder here. The EU and their stupid qualified majority mechanism are poised to repeat their earlier blunders - again. Do they really think that Greece is ever going to be a successful eurozone member? Of course they don't, they just can't stomach the thought of the euro being reversible. Whatever they are doing for Greece it certainly isn't out of any sense of goodwill towards them.

I don´t have a crystal ball…. So is difficult to speak about what could be the situation in a scenario of “NO Euro” ,…. BUT, in my opinion (and taking in account the huge amounts of money managed by the Market strong hands, and the incredible instability caused by the Global crisis ....where only a rumor can tumble the market for a country ) …. Is that most of the European countries would be in a very, very harsh position.  Remember the attacks of Soros against the pound (when the Market was far away smaller tan now), look at Switzerland plummeting industries and the Swiss central bank failure to pledge the Swiss franc with the euro …. Well!!... The situation NOW could be nuclear in the absence of the Euro net.  So,…. When you are bad mouthing the actual situation of Europe .... you should think in the other possible scenario. It is not in the EU's interest that any of the subject nations should be comfortable under austerity measures.  The purpose is not to make their economies stronger because inevitably the Euro will come out of remission, a remission bought at great expense through QE and dodgy bond sales, and will once again burn through the EZ. Obviously the most vulnerable countries are those in southern Europe and the first to suffer but without integration (called for by Merkel in 2011 and applauded by Cameron as both inevitable and desirable for EZ countries, which is like saying amputation is inevitable desirable to save a leg when what is preferable is not to suffer the injury sustained by adopting the Euro in the first place, or joining the EU) and may even threaten Germany. The idea is that the Euro should have force integration and when it didn't that austerity measures would finish the job. When Draghi recently talked about "supervision" by Brussels, he didn't just mean Greece and he really meant "integration.  The trouble is if the nations under austerity think austerity is a cure or become complacent...

There is no chance of truce or political solution on the very same day when Merkel and François made their trip to Kiev. On the same day, John Kerry visited Kiev and blame Russia for everything. At the same time, Joe Biden was visiting Brussel and talking to EU president (polish guy) about stopping Russia from redrawing the map.   Merkel and François want to reduce the risk of "total war". John Kerry and Joe Biden are obviously on the opposite direction. Each side has their audience in Europe. And Kiev is listening to nobody but American.  If I have to bet my money, I will short EU currency before spring comes.    The EU has a strasbourg court to punish its member states for HRA non-compliance. Most member states have a judiciary that is an independent pillar that can balance and challenge the executive. The EU itself has no such judiciary to challenge its own shady inner workings and corruptions.   For instance where is the means to force an inquiry into the action of the EU officials and Catharine Ashton which precipitated the fall of the Yanukovych administration. Where are the judicial structures to shine a light on chronic mismanagement and corruption at the EU level and hold its players to account?   Then we can also consider that Khordokovsky was jailed for tax evasion in Russia, most Putin opponents are bankrolled by super rich people who do not want to pay taxes. The jailing of khordokovsky was condemned by the west for unspecified failings in the legal process involved. Though there is much awareness of bank related frauds and mismanagement and of wide spread tax evasion and dodging in the EU and we can see no one held to account, whilst the majority of the population must suffer with austerity. Which region and jurisdiction has the most fair legal system and competent government may be the first one to cast their stone against Russia. It is a pity that we are up to our necks in the west dominated by establishment cronies that have mismanaged their way to the top and now offload the blame and distraction onto Russia and shield their lies behind a wall of mass fear and hysteria.   As for the criticism that the US have given of Russian "meddling" in Ukraine, one may not be in a glass house to throw stones. Exactly how many countries sanctioned the US when it sent in proxy armies into various republics and toppled and assassinated various governments and political leaders? How many governments opposed the US installed puppet states in Iran and elsewhere? How many governments opposed France and UK and issued sanctions when it sought to take the Suez?

If the standards used to indite and send Russia to hell were consistent and not hypocritical in form then people would not be able to see the corrupt state of our countries stolen from us by charlatans and liars.

Surprise, the European Commission is in favor of banks

Austerity is just a cover to allow Europe's right to privatize essential public services, Use taxpayers money to protect private casino banks shareholders from losses and to create so much unemployment that Europeans are prepared to work for the price of a Coolie. In Germany real wages lagged productivity in the euro era. the excess output of Germany was mopped by others who imported it. Germany was being over-competitive in the 00s.  There is also a mythology that the Greek productivity fell during the Euro era, Read this article and you will see that the OECD data shows that Greek productivity was increasing consistently at rates faster than that of Northern Europe during the EURO era. that is until 2009. Since then productivity fell. Also, from the same source, for the period between 2004 and 2011: Average Greek labour productivity was 73% of the EZ. Average Greek labour cost 76% of the EZ....So there is no justification for the teratologies written in the press regarding the party of the unproductive and overpaid Greek workers during the EURO era.  I won't get into detail regarding the rest of the "facts" you mentioned like Greek train drivers getting 50K (I have seen up to 70K) and people retiring at 50 on average. All these have been repeatedly proved wrong with facts (Greek used to retire on average at the same age as Germans - now I am sure later).  There is of course benefit abuse in Greece, and there are various weaknesses in the public sector but even in 2009 the public sector spending in Greece was the average European in relation to GDP. The key problem is Greece was poorer tax collection than other places. I also quote from the OECD report for 2011 on public sector employment - another big myth there : all Greeks work in the public sector.  "Greece has one of the lowest rates of public employment among OECD countries, with general government employing just 7.9% of the total labour force in 2008. This is a slight increase from 2000, when the rate was 6.8%. Across the OECD area, the share of government employment ranges from 6.7% to 29.3%, with an average of 15%. The Greek government has plans to further decrease this share, by replacing only 20% of staff leaving on retirement. Public employment is also highly centralised in Greece, with over 80% of staff working at the central government level".

Finally, the damage is done now - so instead of continuing to attack Greeks and others for their incompetence and corruption and to prevent further nationalism and damage in Europe - let us all agree to call it a day and go back to our national currencies. This would be better than a prolonged disaster in which country after country falls out of the currency....well

Surprise, surprise, the European Commission in favor of banks again!
With over 3 million empty properties in Spain and hundreds of evictions occurring everyday of people who can't keep up with their mortgage payments due to the massive unemployment rate, a few days ago the gvnt of the autonomous region of Andalusia approved a decree to allow for the temporary expropriation of empty homes from banks in order to house the increasing number of homeless people.
Well, Brussels has replied with a letter to the Spanish central government warning them that they are studying whether the decree is contrary to the Memorandum of Understanding that Spain was forced to sign last year to bailout the banks. The letter also warns of the risks of these expropriations to the Spanish financial system.
Bruselas se entromete en el decreto andaluz de Vivienda y se pone del lado de la banca
We must destroy this EU before it destroys us all.

Who do you think you are kidding Mrs Merkel?

Following German Unification, the Euro was another cunning plan to make Germany the, albeit financial, master race in Europe. Now it's all going awry for the Germans who, yet again, have overstretched their capabilities and their current lords and masters are seemingly living in denial protected by their own economic bubble, or bunker, while the German Euro master plan crashes in financial flames all around them. Meanwhile, past members of the hierarchy try to broker some kind of financial peace treaty while Britain remains steadfast protecting it's financial beach heads and the USA does its utmost to keep out of the, albeit financial, fighting while protecting it's worldwide financial interests. The appropriate words are all in Lafontaine's statements. "The Germans have not yet realized that southern Europe, including France, will be forced by their current misery to fight back against German hegemony sooner or later".  Chancellor Angela Merkel will "awake from her self-righteous slumber" once the countries in trouble unite to force a change in crisis policy at Germany's expense. "Hopes that the creation of the euro would force rational economic behavior on all sides were in vain" adding that the policy of forcing Spain, Portugal, and Greece to carry out internal devaluations was a "catastrophe". I love the way the German refers to "rational economic behavior" by which I assume he means "Germany's economic interests"! "They don't like it up 'em!" do they?  As before, methinks this could end up costing Germany dear in what can only be described as reparations for their ill fated financial master plan which caused so much suffering and misery across Europe and is likely to take several years to return to business as usual.

Source - Hotnews.ro - good analysis

A few days ago, Welt am Sonntag published a statement by Kai Konrad, economic advisor to Chancellor Merkel, by which he expressed his doubt about the chances of survival of the unified currency for more than five years. According to Konrad, the international press has also taken on the statements of the president of Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, according to whom Europe would need about 10 years to overcome the debt crisis. Fortunately, Europe's "rescue" from the straitjacket of the Euro may come a lot faster. A secret report of the Bundesbank, sent to the Federal Constitutional Court in December 2012, recently "leaked" in the pages of the financial daily Handelsblatt. In this report, the "Bundesbank launched punctual attacks against every statement made by Mario Draghi to justify the program of Direct Monetary Transactions", Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote in The Telegraph. The authenticity of the report was confirmed by the Bundesbank, according o a piece of news by Reuters.
Upon the announcement of the DMT program, Draghi justified the buying of the government bonds by saying that "the major interest rate differential should not be tolerated". For the Bundesbank, which is concerned that the unlimited bond buying program undermines the independence of the ECB, "a uniform level of the interest rates is not desirable", the article of Handelsblatt writes. The reason is simple: the differences between the interest rates of the various government bonds should reflect the economic performance of the country in question. Given the fact that "risk and responsibility should not be decoupled", as recently stated by Chancellor Merkel, the Bundesbank estimates that it is this very principle that violates the European rescue plan. The document of the Central Bank of Germany also mentions that the buying of bonds issued by troubled countries involves the risk of major losses for the ECB, if they were forced to leave the Eurozone. Such an event is no longer conceivable for the Bundesbank.  For analyst Harvinder Sian, of RBS, "the Bundesbank report borders on economic warfare", and the markets could react negatively amid the uncertainty concerning the approval of the Direct Monetary Transactions of the ECB. Even though the disagreements between Weidmann and Draghi are nothing new, especially since the president of the Bundesbank was singled by the chairman of the ECB as the only opponent of the plant to monetize European sovereign debts, "the aggressive tone of the report shocked the economists", according to Evans-Pritchard. As if all the criticism of the Bundesbank concerning the desperate measures proposed by Draghi wasn't enough, the document of the German Central Bank also contains the supreme "heresy": "The ECB does not have a mandate to maintain the current structure of the monetary union", as its only goal is price stability. This was also the opinion of government advisor Kai Konrad: "It is Europe that matters to me. Not the euro".  The German constitutional court will decide on the legality of the DMT plan on June 12th, 2013, about two months prior to the German general elections. The decision of the Court of September 2012, concerning the constitutionality of the European Stability Mechanism has also included an important clarification: "The acquisition of government bonds by the ECB, directed towards the financing of the national budgets, is prohibited, because it breaks the interdiction of monetizing debt", as written by The Telegraph. "A decision of the Constitutional Court against the TMD will mean the end of the Euro", said Mats Persson, of Open Europe, for The Telegraph, and German historian Michael Stürmer sees the report of the Bundesbank as "an attempt to reaffirm its predominant role in the Eurosystem".  The report sent to the Constitutional Court of Germany by the Bundes-bank will undoubtedly generate numerous political conflicts, both domestically and on a European level, and the "friends" of the European currency will find it increasingly difficult to protect their positions.  It is not out of the question that by the end of this year, we will see a rare convergence of the European authorities: the Euro has to die for Europe to live. 

The writing is on the wall! With Weidermann's  Bundesbank opening battle lines against Draghi's ECB its now clear that further state bail-outs, debt  naturalization and fiscal transfers are off the menu. Spain and other debtor EMU nations are obviously being lined up for the ultimate solution; a Cyprus style write-down of private bank deposits. Watch the Spanish Euro denominated money supply collapse as funds deluge northwards  into Deutche Euros and Sterling, the latter possibly becoming an alternative currency for individuals and business fleeing from monetary persecution and financial ruin.  Germany’s constitutional court will rule on the legality of the bond rescue plan on June 12. It gave a provisional go-ahead last September for other parts of the EMU rescue machinery, but limited Germany’s bail-out share to €190bn (£160bn). Crucially, it warned that the Bundestag may not alienate its tax and spending powers to any supra-national body or be exposed to “unlimited” liabilities.  “If the court rules against OMT, it means the end of the euro. The stakes are so high that I don’t see how they could just pull the trigger,” said Mats Persson from Open Europe.  He said the Draghi plan is a legal hot potato because it is, by definition, unlimited. “The previous rulings by the court have all been predicated on this point.”  German historian Michael Stürmer said the tough report is a bid by the Bundesbank to “reassert its primacy”. “They have told the ECB in no uncertain terms that it is exceeding its mandate. Angela Merkel may be smiling because this helps her set limits in Europe.” Prof Sturmer said the forthcoming ruling - wider than just the Draghi plan - is “much more serious” than last September’s judgment, limited to an injunction brought by eurosceptic groups. “This is about issues of sovereignty. I don't think the Court will dare to issue a ruling before the elections in September. They will procrastinate,” he said. The court has some jurisdiction over ECB policy because it intrudes on the German Grundgesetz, or Basic Law. “Once the ECB starts bailing out states it is moving into dangerous waters,” he said. The court made a glancing reference to OMT in September, stating that ECB bond purchases “aimed at financing the members budgets is prohibited, as it would circumvent the ban on monetary financing”. The bond markets ignored the leaked report on Friday, confident that the court will once again find some formula to avert a crisis. It could cite a clause in the Lisbon Treaty stating that the ECB has a duty to “support the general economic policies in the Union”, which would include saving the euro. “They might refer the case to the European Court but that would leave the Sword of Damocles hanging over the market for another two years,” said David Marsh, author of books on the Bundesbank and EMU. “I think use of OMT is practically impossible until this is resolved.”   Sovereign bond strategist Nicholas Spiro said markets are “sick and tired” of the eurozone debt crisis and have stopped paying attention to the detail. “There is this ravenous hunt for yield and they think there is all this money coming from Japan. But it has long been unclear whether OMT is real or just a myth, and the eurozone’s underlying economic crisis is still getting worse. The window of opportunity created by Draghi has been wasted.  “If the court sides with the Bundesbank in any way the whole house of cards could come crashing down.”  “If the court sides with the Bundesbank in any way the whole house of cards could come crashing down.”   Although I believe the Court should do so, in no way means that it will, far more likely the can gets kicked farther down the road, such is the nature of the beast we are dealing with. Drahgi, Rumpoy and Barosso sit there smugly in their ivory towers secure in the knowledge that they have the world by the short hairs so to speak, well I fear the world has had enough of the troublesome eu and it will all end sometime soon, for my part the sooner the better......Kill the euro and the EU !!!!

It has been clear for some time that the euro is overvalued and not just by a little bit as suggested by Wolfgang Schauble.

I think that we are talking a 20-30% devaluation to save club med and keep them in the EZ. Germany of course would end up with high inflation.  I cannot see dropping interest rates a little bit will have much effect. Quantative easing might be difficult as this increases liquidity and there is too much money squishing around in the EZ already. The situation in the EZ is now so bad that drastic action is necessary to correct it. What sort of action can replace breaking up the whole sorry thing is beyond me.

It is worth pointing out again that Germany is only 27% of the EZ. EZ economics need to be aimed at the remaining 73%. If you make economic policy that only benefits Germany then you should expect the rest of the EZ to be in the state that it is.

As to why the euro is so overvalued, I am as at much a loss as everybody else.

I do however suspect that ECB operations are at the root of things. Their sole objective is to keep prices down which is mainly due to German fears of hyper-inflation. The problem  is that playing artificially with one part of the economic equation has a knock on effect with rest of the equation.

I fear that the economic equation in the EZ is now so far out of kilter as to be uncorrectable.

The pain and suffering in the EZ will continue until it is broken up,  either partly or wholly, and the disparate economies allowed to recover via traditional means.

I would like to say this to the europhiles. Your stupid project has caused this problem. All across europe the people are suffering as a result of your hubris.  This cannot be allowed to continue. The day of your reckoning is coming. You have been warned......

The newly designated government of Romania, formed of the Social Liberal Union (USL) alliance and led by Victor Ponta, eyes an average annual economic growth of 3% for 2013-2016 and maintaining an ESA-system budget deficit of under 3% until 2016, according to the USL governing program, published by the government on Thursday.
It eyes reaching a structural budget deficit of 0.7% of GDP in 2014 and keeping it at that level in 2015 and 2016, but also reaching a "lower VAT level for basic food products within the limits of fiscal necessities" on the average term.
On research, the government wants to group all research institutions controlled by ministers and governmental agencies under the Education, Research and Innovation ministry.
On European funds, the Government eyes an absorption rate for non-reimbursable structural and cohesion funds of 50-80% by 2015.
On fiscal policies, the government says it plans to provide transparency for public funds, to simplify the tax system, to return to a 19% VAT and introduce progressive taxation.
The program defines the principles of the USL government.

 

Among them: compliance with the rule of law and individual rights

• compliance with Romania's commitments to foreign partners - the European Commission, the IMF and th World Bank - with the goal of an inclusive economic growth with a balance distribution among the population, by applying structural reforms which would allow increasing economic competitiveness.
• a new vision for Romania - economic development and social cohesion
• improving the absorption rate of structural funds as an essential condition to provide sustainable economic growth and limit foreign debt
• support economic freedom, private initiative and fair competition
• guarantee property rights
• efficient use of public money and war on tax dodgers
• accelerated structural reforms
• the development of competitive economy, of modern agriculture and industry
• sustainable social policies to provide free and equal access to education and health systems
• political reform, meaning an improved Constitution and a credible, legitimate Parliament
• regain the country's place worldwide as a respected partner within the European Union

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... 

The chances of Britain leaving the EU rose dramatically last night after it emerged that one of David Cameron’s closest Cabinet allies believes it is time to tell Brussels bluntly: ‘We are ready to quit.’

Education Secretary Michael Gove has told friends that, if there was a referendum today on whether the UK should cut its ties with Brussels, he would vote to leave.

He wants Britain to give other EU nations an ultimatum: ‘Give us back our sovereignty or we will walk out.’ Mr Gove insists the UK could thrive as a free trading nation on its own, like other non-EU nations in Europe such as Norway and Switzerland. He has changed his view partly as a result of his fury at Brussels meddling which has held up his school reforms.  Mr Gove, one of the Prime Minister’s closest confidants, has discussed his views in detail with Mr Cameron. In an anti-EU pincer movement by the two Tory allies, Mr Cameron will formally announce later this month the first major step towards grabbing back powers from Brussels.   He will set out in detail how he plans to withdraw Britain from EU justice ties, but he will then ‘cherry pick’ which aspects of Anglo-EU legal co-operation he believes are in British interests. These could include the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), access to police databases, prisoner transfers and co-operation over drugs trafficking and money laundering.  The disclosures are the latest evidence of a turning point in Britain’s relationship with the EU, which is currently gripped by the euro crisis.

Mr Cameron has struck an increasingly tough stance. He won plaudits for vetoing changes in the EU Treaty, has edged closer to pledging an ‘In or Out’ referendum, and suggested Brussels should have two budgets, one for eurozone nations and another for non-eurozone nations such as the UK....UPDATE - 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 ECB declined comment on Friday

"Private creditors have already suffered big writedowns on their Greek bonds under a second bailout for Athens sealed in February, but this was not enough to put the country back on the path to solvency and a further restructuring is on the cards. The latest aim is to reduce Greece's debts by a further €70bn to €100bn, several senior eurozone officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters, cutting its debts to a more manageable 100pc of annual economic output. This would require the European Central Bank and national central banks to take losses on their holdings of Greek government bonds, and could also involve national governments also accepting losses. The favoured option is for the ECB and national central banks to carry the cost, but that could mean that some banks and the ECB itself having to be recapitalized, the officials said. The ECB declined comment on Friday".

Spain is Bust. Italy is pretty much bust and if the truth be told is bust. Ditto Portugal.. Greece is just the weakest and as such fell first.
You have to let people including Governments fail if they are incompetently run. Let them go to the wall and any bank that was dumb enough to buy debt from these States.

IMF - John Lipsky, the acting managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has taken a tougher approach than his predecessor, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Photograph: Aleofficials and diplomats in Brussels confirmed that the IMF threat to pull the plug on its funding – in stark contrast to the more emollient line of Strauss-Kahn – had been defused because of a German climbdown. As political turmoil continued in Greece on Thursday, with the prime minister, George Papandreou, scrambling to form a new government, the stage was being set for a political struggle between Europe's powerbrokers over the fine print of the proposed new €100bn-plus rescue of Greece. Berlin is deeply at odds with France and with the key EU institutions – the European Central Bank (ECB), the European commission, the presidency of the EU and the head of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg – over the terms of a new deal. Germany was forced to agree to bail out Greece for the second time in a year under strong pressure from the International Monetary Fund following the resignation last month of its head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Guardian has learned. Under its acting chief, the American John Lipsky, the IMF has taken a more hardline stance and it warned the Germans in recent weeks that it would withhold urgently needed funds and trigger a Greek sovereign default unless Berlin stopped delaying and pledged firmly that it would come to Greece's rescue.

AsiaNewsAgencies - China: Xintang: police and army occupy city to stop protests. Climate akin to martial law, with police patrolling every street, road blocks, orders for shops and restaurants to close early, people advised not to go out at night. Tens of thousands of migrants are ready to protest on the streets for justice and recognition, tired of constant harassment.Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The police are now patrolling the streets and putting roadblocks on main thoroughfares of Xintang in the city of Zhengcheng, to end to urban guerrilla warfare that first broke out June 10. But it is a deceptive calm, with tens of thousands of immigrants ready to explode with further protests and violence. Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The police are now patrolling the streets and putting roadblocks on main thoroughfares of Xintang in the city of Zhengcheng, to end to urban guerrilla warfare that first broke out June 10. But it is a deceptive calm, with tens of thousands of immigrants ready to explode with further protests and violence. summoned the managers of 1,200 companies in the area telling them to "pay close attention to their employees." In an atmosphere akin to martial law, shops and restaurants have been ordered to close early. Residents have been "advised" not to go out at night and not to post pictures of the clashes on line.
http://www.eucouncilfiles.eu/

George Papandreou should resign

George Papandreou pledges to form a new government - After a day which saw world stocks tumble, on which tens of thousands marched on parliament to oppose the swingeing austerity measures designed to stave off bankruptcy, George Papandreou effectively conceded that he had not been able to muster enough support in parliament for the cuts required by international creditors to enable Greece to balance its books. Papandreou has told his conservative opposite number, Antonis Samaras, that he would stand aside and make way for a new leader if the opposition joined his party in a national unity government committed to sweeping reform to pull Greece's economy out of its tailspin. It remained unclear whether the opposition New Democracy party would agree to the move. Party insiders indicated that it would only do so if the government renegotiated the terms of last year's €110bn (£96bn) international bailout package, designed to save Greece from default. "The most important member of a ship's crew is the captain, and the captain has to go," conservative deputy Theodoros Karaoglou said, according to Associated Press. "If we joined forces, we could go to our [creditors] together to negotiate and the results of course would be better." Greece's economy is drowning in more than €300bn of debt – around one and a half times more than the country's entire annual output. Unemployment has rocketed to 16.2%, and the economy is predicted to contract by as much as 3% this year, making it Europe's worst performing economy – and one of the worst in the world.

With Europe's debt crisis intensifying by the day, fear appears to be the single biggest factor motivating those in charge of policy on the common currency. But as finance ministers from the 17 euro countries debated how to bail out Greece for a second time in a year, before an EU summit on 25 June, the signs are not promising. In Athens, a day after Standard and Poor's gave Greece the lowest rating of any country it covers – lower even than Pakistan and Ecuador – the omens appeared to be particularly poor. Differences over involvement of private investors in the rescue package – which is seen as the key to getting Europe's paymaster, Germany, to agree to it at all – this week pushed the cost of insuring Greek government debt against default up to 1,600 basis points, a record high even by the standards set so far. More than ever, Papandreou appears stuck between a rock and a hard place. Faced with a €340bn (£300bn) debt projected to hit 160% of GDP by 2012, Greece is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. In a country plagued by a shadow economy that accounts for almost 30% of GDP, the medicine prescribed by the EU, IMF and ECB in exchange for €110bn of emergency loans last May, has resulted in a deeper than expected recession with further cost-cutting measures now seen as crucial if Greece is not only to rein in its debt but make it sustainable.

- Romania’s major grain traders such as Cargill, Alfred C. Toepfer, Glencore and Nidera exported grain worth EUR1.3 billion from June 2010 through 2011, according to Victor Beznea, president of the Romanian Association of Farm Product Traders (ARCPA).

- The record-high EUR1.5 billion raised by the Finance Ministry last week from the foreign markets brings to over EUR4.5 billion the foreign currency debt accumulated by Romania since the beginning of the year.

According to the source, the U.S. carmaker will produce over 70 B-Max prototypes in Romania this summer. The car parts needed to assemble the B-Max models were produced at Ford's car plants in Germany. The B-Max minivans will be tested soon in Belgium, at Ford Lommel Proving Ground and in other countries. After tests are finished, the cars will be dismantled. Ford Romania will start the production of the new car model next year. B-Max will be produced exclusively in Romania. At the end of March, Ford finished installing the production lines for B-Max and a new family of engines at the Craiova car plant. Ford produced about 3,000 Transit Connect light commercial vehicles in Romania. The U.S. carmaker has invested EUR450 million so far in operations carried out in Craiova.

European Union - EU solidarity ?!...

French banks lead exodus of EU lenders from hardest-hit European economiesEuropean banks increase pressure on Greece and other struggling economies by refusing support for business dealsThe crisis enveloping Greece, Ireland and Portugal appeared to deepen after figures showed EU banks were refusing to support business deals in the EU's hardest-hit economies. Figures from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) show French, German and UK banks have embarked on a mass exodus from Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, in what analysts see as an effort to bolster their balance sheets and conform to new rules designed to protect financial institutions from going bust. The move is expected to add to tensions in Brussels over how to prevent Greece defaulting on its loans because vital business contracts will cost more to insure. French banks cut their exposure to Greece from $92bn (£57bn) to $65bn in the last three months of 2010. They also reduced their involvement in Ireland, Portugal and Spain, slicing their total exposure to the four hardest-hit economies by $112bn. Richard Batty of Standard Life Investments said the reduction in credit derivatives issued by French banks was due to "the reduced risk appetite of the major banks, and in parallel, a shift to bolstering capital positions to reflect the requirements of the Basle III rules". He said stress tests planned by Brussels for the summer could lead to a further exodus as banks sought to insure only the safest risks.

German and French banks held over two-thirds of the Greek government bonds at the end of last year, accounting for 70% of the $54.2bn owned by banks from 24 countries that report to the BIS.