Euro crisis – Page 6 – Slugger O'Toole

Jean-Claude Trichet: “It is not a question of technique. It is a question of will and determination.”

Pete Baker on July 18, 2011, 9:11 pm

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At the Telegraph blog, Andrew Lilico takes his life in his hands to ask, “Is it time for the eurozone to turn into a Single European State?” A key point he makes, I’d suggest OK – so what do we do, if we don’t want to break up the euro altogether? First, we have to accept (a) that this is fundamentally a political project, a precursor to a Single European State, and must be accepted as such by all its …

Van Rompuy: “Our agenda will be the financial stability of the euro area as a whole…”

Pete Baker on July 16, 2011, 3:53 pm

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European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency summit of divided euro zone leaders on Thursday to address the existential European debt crisis. From the Irish Times report “Our agenda will be the financial stability of the euro area as a whole and the future financing of the Greek programme,” said Mr Van Rompuy in a brief statement last night. “I have asked for the preparatory work to be brought forward inter alia by the finance ministries.” And they …

Ireland debt = Junk

Pete Baker on July 13, 2011, 1:34 am

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According to ratings agency Moody’s. From the Irish Times report While Ireland still carries investment-grade ratings with rival agencies Standard Poor’s and Fitch, the downgrade creates big new obstacle for the Government’s plan to exit the EU-IMF bailout programme and start borrowing from debt markets again next year. Only investors with a very large appetite for risk buy junk-rated bonds given the higher implied risk that the issuer may default, or fail to pay back the debt. A spokesman for …

Bini Smaghi: “The crisis has shown that the euro is an incomplete construct and needs to be completed.”

Pete Baker on July 10, 2011, 5:55 pm

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Via the Irish Economy blog. In a speech at the 8th European Seminar in Poros, on 8th July, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, did a reasonable job of identifying the problems highlighted by the sovereign debt crisis – although he denies it’s an existential crisis for the EU. But, as a true believer in the “European Project”, his solution may not be to everyone’s taste… From his 8th July speech In my view, we should strengthen …

Van Rompuy: “Europe is still sexy…”

Pete Baker on July 5, 2011, 10:54 pm

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So sayeth the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, as the BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt notes Europe’s leaders are unsettled, scratchy. Old certainties have given way to anxiety. The open road to ever closer union is now strewn with boulders. You can gauge the ebbing confidence from remarks that didn’t need to be made. “Europe is still sexy,” declared President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. “As long as a club attracts new members,” he added, “it is …

Jean-Claude Juncker: “The sovereignty of Greece will be massively limited.”

Pete Baker on July 4, 2011, 9:01 pm

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After the Greek parliament voted to give everyone more time to come up with a better solution, Eurozone finance ministers agreed to release the promised €12billion to Greece to avoid an immediate default. But those same finance ministers have now delayed discussions on the details of a second bail-out for Greece, thought to be around 120bn euros, needed to pay the bills until the end of 2014. According to an Irish Times report today, the Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos has stated, “Euro Group decided through a …

Euro crisis: “gaining time is the least bad outcome, both for Greece and Europe as a whole”

Pete Baker on June 29, 2011, 5:06 pm

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In the midst of a 48 hour general strike, and with police clashing with protestors on the streets, the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, won the first of two crucial votes on the latest package of tax hikes, spending cuts, and privatisations. By 155 votes to 138. But as the BBC Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt, wrote before today’s vote But here’s the thing. No one in Greece believes the tax increases, lay-offs, privatisations will ever be fully implemented. This morning I …

Euro crisis: Come on in, the water’s lovely…

Pete Baker on June 24, 2011, 9:12 pm

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Croatia got an invite to join the European Union party, as EU leaders cornered the under pressure Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, ahead of next week’s crucial Greek parliamentary vote on the latest bail-out. Arthur Beesley in the Irish Times FOR THE fourth time this year, EU leaders gathered in Brussels last night to plot the next step in the sovereign debt emergency. They have declared victory many times before. None is inclined to suggest they are winning now. The mood …

Euro crisis: “an existential crisis for the euro zone”

Pete Baker on June 20, 2011, 3:50 pm

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Eurozone finance ministers have withheld the release of a €12 billion loan to Greece in the hope that the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, can secure a domestic political consensus. The BBC report quotes from the EU finance ministers’ statement A statement issued by the ministers called on all political parties in Greece to: “support the programme’s main objectives and key policy measures to ensure a rigorous and expeditious implementation”. “Given the length, magnitude and nature of required reforms in Greece, national unity …

Sarkozy: “Without the euro there is no Europe…”

Pete Baker on June 18, 2011, 3:43 pm

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That was the exaggarated claim of French President Nicolas Sarkozy as Frau Bundeskanzerlin blinked over her demand that private bondholders be made to share the burden of a ‘Greek miracle’ second Greek bail-out. Although where that leaves the Bundestag is another matter… And now that the French and German leaders are in agreement it’s down to the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to forge a domestic political consensus. Or not. A new political contract is essential for Greece to survive the current crisis. For this contract …

“You’ve got to remember this is the home of surrealism”

Pete Baker on June 14, 2011, 2:19 pm

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That’s Belgium, not here. Belgium took the ‘no government’ crown from Iraq in February, and they just keep going… In the Irish Times, Arthur Beesley starts with a tale that sounds strangely familiar. IN THE metro stations of Brussels they pipe old pop hits for commuters. Songs in English, Spanish and Italian can be heard. They no longer play songs in French, the city’s main language, because Dutch-speakers took umbrage. No battle is too trivial in Belgium’s language wars. If the …

Euro crisis: “If fiscal union is not on the cards, the only other option is eurozone breakup”

Pete Baker on June 13, 2011, 3:35 pm

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In the Irish Times, Dan O’Brien provides a bleak assessment of the Greek problem at the heart of the current euro crisis. From the Irish Times article The chances of things getting worse are high. Societal strains and rampant corruption do not in themselves cause economic weakness – just look at China and India – but they don’t help. Alas for Greece, even if both problems were to disappear tomorrow there is little reason to believe its economic rot would stop. …

Euro crisis: “it is the fear of the unknown that is holding sway”

Pete Baker on June 8, 2011, 4:46 pm

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Frau Bundeskanzerlin has been to Washington, to pick up her Presidential Medal of Freedom. And to smooth over the ruffled feathers of that transatlantic relationship. As he handed over the medal, US President Barack Obama warned of the danger of the Euro debt crisis impacting the global economy, and in particular, the US economy. He might be looking for a handy scapegoat in the months ahead… But as, still everyone’s hero, Robert Peston points out “America’s banks would seem to have a good …

Euro crisis: “the right to veto some national economic policy decisions”

Pete Baker on June 3, 2011, 3:19 pm

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Further signs of dissent in Greece at the proposed terms of a new improved bail-out, and the accompanying “humiliating erosion of sovereignty”. And so far, where Greece has been led, others have followed… But, for some, every cloud has a silver lining. “Would it go too far if we envisaged . . . giving euro area authorities a much deeper and authoritative, say in the formation of the country’s economic policies if these go harmfully astray?” asked [European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude …

Euro crisis: “For all concerned, the stakes are rising rapidly”

Pete Baker on May 31, 2011, 5:21 pm

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The markets may be optimistic about reports of agreement between Greece and the EU, IMF and ECB inspectors but, as Arthur Beesley notes in the Irish Times, the cost will be “a humiliating erosion of sovereignty”. And, as he also notes in a separate report, the future remains uncertain for Greece. In view of Greece’s uncertain financing outlook over the next 12 months, the IMF is known to be threatening to refuse to release its €3 billion portion of the €12 …

Euro crisis: “categorically there will be absolutely no bailout next year in Ireland”

Pete Baker on May 30, 2011, 4:44 pm

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A series of Irish government ministers have been clarifying their position after the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, appeared to suggest that a second bail-out could be required for Ireland next year. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan “The programme is due to run until the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 and there is sufficient money in the programme to meet all eventualities so categorically there will be absolutely no bailout next year in Ireland,” Mr Noonan stated. “The …

Euro crisis: “Politicians have become sheep, not leaders”

Pete Baker on May 28, 2011, 5:05 pm

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In today’s Irish Times Paul Gillespie returns to the topic of the political dynamics in play at European and national levels during this euro crisis. From the Irish Times article Ireland is doubly unlucky. Not only is France prepared to play hardball, but there is also no good reason for it to calculate its interests are being damaged by Ireland’s corporation tax rate to any real extent. It is impossible to get a good explanation from any French person as …

Euro crisis: “everyone thought everyone else would back down at the last minute…”

Pete Baker on May 25, 2011, 7:30 pm

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Writing in the Guardian, Paul Mason covers similar territory to my post last night [But in a more coherent manner? – Ed]. You might very well think that… ANYhoo… He opens with this In the summer of 1914 the Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig was on holiday in Ostend with fellow writers and artists. One afternoon, noticing the sudden appearance of uniformed soldiers on the promenade, they buttonholed an officer: “Why all this stupid marching around?” It was 3 August: war was …

Euro crisis: “Europe has been producing its usual cacophony of voices in the past few days”

Pete Baker on May 24, 2011, 9:20 pm

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BBC Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt, has been looking at Spain in the aftermath of defeat for the prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s ruling socialist party in municipal and regional elections. From Gavin Hewitt But nerves are back. In weekend elections the governing Socialist party took a thrashing. Even in strongholds like Seville and Castilla-La Mancha it was defeated. There is a pattern emerging in Europe. Given a chance, the people turn on the incumbents. In Spain national elections do not …

“Hungover people do not go out and riot.”

Pete Baker on May 22, 2011, 4:31 pm

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Writing in The Observer David Sharrock has been wondering “why are there no barricades on the streets of Dublin?” For his part, Tóibín thinks that all economists are mad. But he can agree with Philip Lane, professor of international macroeconomics at Trinity College Dublin. The two certainly share an explanation of the public mood, this sense of confusion and despair that is not being converted into street protests. According to Lane, shame is at the root of the Irish reaction. …