Tag: EU

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Greece could face social unrest soon

trojanhorse

Greece could face social unrest soon: Wilbur Ross

Matthew J. Belvedere | @Matt_Belvedere

The deteriorating situation in Greece—including long lines and a 60 euro ($67) limit at ATMs—could get much worse if voters there refuse to accept creditor-imposed reforms in a referendum this coming Sunday, said billionaire Wilbur Ross, who has a large interest in the country.

“Once there’s social unrest, which there will be before too long if this thing continues, no tourist is going to want to go to [Greece],” Ross told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. “If the Greek people understand how limited those concessions that are requested are, and contemplate going into the abyss on other side, they’re never going to pick the abyss.”

Read MoreGrexit a tragedy, but ‘Apocalypse Not’: Strategist

Last year, the chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co. and other international financiers invested $1.8 billion in Eurobank—becoming the biggest shareholder of Greece’s third-largest bank. He said Monday he made the bet thinking the current government would not be in power.

Ross said there are lines at Eurobank branches, but surprisingly they’re “not totally out of control yet.”

https://www.cnbc.com/id/102795010

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Greece on the Verge of a Meltdown

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Shock vote on terms of bailout pushes Greek banks to the brink of meltdown as long queues form at country’s cashpoints

Eurozone finance ministers have refused a Greek request to extend its bailout programme
The current programme expires on June 30, and will not be continued
Finance ministers are continuing emergency meetings in Brussels without Greece to decide the consequences
Hundreds rushed to ATMs across the country, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for a referendum on the bailout at 1am Greek time

By SIMON WALTERS AND GLEN OWEN FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 07:06 EST, 27 June 2015 | UPDATED: 07:16 EST, 28 June 2015

Greek banks were on the brink of meltdown last night after the shock announcement that its crisis-hit government would hold a referendum on the terms of a fresh international bailout.

Long queues formed outside the country’s cashpoints after prime minister Alexis Tsipras accused the International Monetary Fund and eurozone of trying to blackmail his country – and pledged to give the Greek people the final say in a vote next weekend.

Mr Tsipras described the bailout plan as ‘humiliation’, condemned ‘unbearable’ austerity measures demanded by creditors and said he would campaign for a ‘no’ result.

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3141480/Hundreds-queue-outside-banks-fears-Grexit-grow-ahead-MPs-vote-bailout-referendum.html#ixzz3eMXxSqm3

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So what if Greece leaves the European Union?

GREECE

By George F. Will Opinion writer June 19 at 9:04 PM

Now come Greeks bearing the gift of confirmation that Margaret Thatcher was right about socialist governments: “They always run out of other people’s money.” Greece, from whose ancient playwrights Western drama descends, is in an absurdist melodrama about securing yet another cash infusion from international creditors. This would add another boulder to a mountain of debt almost twice the size of Greece’s gross domestic product. This protracted dispute will result in desirable carnage if Greece defaults, thereby becoming a constructively frightening example to all democracies doling out unsustainable, growth-suppressing entitlements.

In January, Greek voters gave power to the left-wing Syriza party, one third of which, the Economist reports, consists of “Maoists, Marxists and supporters of Che Guevara.” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, 40, a retired student radical, immediately denounced a European Union declaration criticizing Russia’s dismemberment of Ukraine. He chose only one cabinet member with prior government experience — a former leader of Greece’s Stalinist Communist Party. Tsipras’s minister for culture and education says Greek education“should not be governed by the principle of excellence . . . it is a warped ambition.” Practicing what he preaches, he proposes abolishing university entrance exams.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-greek-monetary-melodrama/2015/06/19/4ae915de-15ea-11e5-9518-f9e0a8959f32_story.html?postshare=4111434808557805

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Greek crisis summit called after talks fail and bank fears grow – as it happened

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Greece is facing a full-blown banking crisis after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers broke down in acrimony and recrimination, forcing leaders to meet next week.

Greece is facing a full-blown banking crisis after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers broke down in acrimony and recrimination on Thursday evening, bringing the prospect of Greek exit from the eurozone a step nearer.

Some €2bn of deposits have been withdrawn from Greek banks so far this week – including a record €1bn yesterday – triggering fears that a breakdown in talks would spark a further flight of funds. The German leader Angela Merkel, French president François Hollande and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras agreed to stage an emergency EU summit on Monday as a last critical attempt to prevent Greece going bankrupt. A representative of the European Central Bank told the meeting it was unsure whether Greek banks would have the funds to be able to open on Monday.

Eurozone talks end without deal as Greek proposals rejectedRead more

As thousands of pro-EU protestors gathered outside the Athens parliament building, leaders of the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund aimed bitter criticism at the leftwing Greek government, accusing it of lying to its own people, misrepresenting and misleading other EU leaders, refusing to negotiate seriously, and taking Greece to the brink of catastrophe.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jun/18/greek-crisis-eurozone-finance-ministers-merkel-live

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Greek default fears rise as ‘11th-hour’ talks collapse

EURO_theridgewoodblog

Peter Spiegel in Brussels and Kerin Hope in Athens

Talks aimed at reaching an 11th-hour deal between Greek ministers and their bailout creditors collapsed on Sunday evening after a new economic reform proposal submitted by Athens was deemed inadequate to continue negotiations.

The breakdown is the clearest sign yet that differences between the two sides may be too wide to breach, increasing the possibility that Athens will not secure the €7.2bn in bailout aid it needs to avoid defaulting on its debts — including a €1.5bn loan repayment due to the International Monetary Fund in just two weeks.

Greek negotiators, including Nikos Pappas, aide-de-camp to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, left the European Commission only 45 minutes after entering.

A commission spokesman said there remained a “significant gap” between the sides, amounting to up to €2bn per year, and there was no longer time to reach a “positive assessment” of Greek efforts before a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Thursday.

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5530f788-1288-11e5-bcc2-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3d7H33YDo

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Worried depositors rush to pull cash out of Greek banks

trojanhorse

trojanhorse

Worried depositors rush to pull cash out of Greek banks

Germany accuses Greeks of ‘Trojan horse’ tactics over bail-out deal .Athen’s proposal for bail-out extension are rejected by Germany setting two countries on a collision course before crunch talks

By Dody Tsiantar, Special to CNBC.com

In the midst of the dramatic showdown in Brussels between the new Greek government and its European creditors, many Greek depositors—spooked by the prospect of a Greek default or, worse, an exit from the euro zone and a possible return to the drachma—have been pulling euros out of the nation’s banks in record amounts over the last few days.

The Bank of Greece and the European Central Bank won’t report official cash outflows for January until the end of the month. But sources in the Greek banking sector have told Greek newspapers that as much as 25 billion euros (US $28.4 billion) have left Greek banks since the end of December. According to the same sources, an estimated 900 million euros flowed out of Greek banks on Tuesday alone, the day after the talks broke up in Brussels, sparking fears that measures will be taken to stem the outflow. On Thursday, by mid-afternoon, deposits had shrunk by about 680 million euros (US $77.3 million).

“If outflows reach 1 billion euros, capital controls might need to be imposed,” said Thanasis Koukakis, a financial editor for Estia a conservative daily, and To Vima, an influential Sunday newspaper.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/102439432

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“Our homeland will from today on be able to see the sun and sky as a dictatorship has ended,”

v2-Tymoshenko-2-AP

“Our homeland will from today on be able to see the sun and sky as a dictatorship has ended,”

‘I am sure Ukraine will join the EU’: Former PM Yulia Tymoshenko is freed hours after parliament ousts President Viktor Yanukovych

The former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, has been freed from prison and said that she is certain that the country will now join the EU, just hours after MPs voted to oust President Viktor Yanukovych.

“Our homeland will from today on be able to see the sun and sky as a dictatorship has ended,” Tymoshenko told reporters after her release from the hospital where she had been held under prison guard for most of the time since she was jailed in 2011.

Tymoshenko, who was on her way to Kiev to join the protesters in Independence Square, said she will “make it so that no drop of blood that was spilled will be forgotten.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/former-ukraine-pm-yulia-tymoshenko-is-freed-hours-after-parliament-ousts-president-viktor-yanukovych-9146467.html