Eurogroup Gives Greece 10 Day Ultimatum: Apply For Bailout Or Grexit - page 17

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After months and months it turns out the IMF (and EU and ECB) knew for at least 5 years what Greeks were talking and demanding - and they still refused to accept it. The ugliest truth could not be imagined. The end of EU is close -not because of USA, not because of sanctions to Russia - but because of a bunch of hyper corrupted EU "officials" (headed by the biggest liar of all)

 
whisperer:
After months and months it turns out the IMF (and EU and ECB) knew for at least 5 years what Greeks were talking and demanding - and they still refused to accept it. The ugliest truth could not be imagined. The end of EU is close -not because of USA, not because of sanctions to Russia - but because of a bunch of hyper corrupted EU "officials" (headed by the biggest liar of all)

All they care is saving the EU - if they "have" to sacrifice Greece, they could not care less - and as I toled already : only one country had benefited from the EU

 
nbtrading:
All they care is saving the EU - if they "have" to sacrifice Greece, they could not care less - and as I toled already : only one country had benefited from the EU

All they benefited from dumping debt from north to south. And from creating tax free zone for the thing nobody would buy without that

 

Greek referendum is not bringing us closer to a solution says Dijsselbloem

Greek reforms are still needed after the voteSo what are you going to do now Deej?

More of the same from the Eurogroup head. His head might be on the block at the upcoming elections for the top job after the result

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Greece Given Hours to Save Place in Euro

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was given hours to come up with a plan to keep his country in the euro and stave off economic disaster as citizens suffer under a second week of capital controls.

Adding to the pressure, the European Central Bank made it tougher for Greek banks to access emergency loans. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “time is running out,” as she and French President Francois Hollande responded to Sunday’s referendum result in Greece. Euro-region finance ministers gather for an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

Tsipras has all but run out of chances to reach a deal with creditors, who have insisted on tax hikes and spending cuts as the price for a new bailout of Europe’s most indebted nation. Greece’s economy is grinding to a halt, with bank closures extended through Wednesday to stem deposit withdrawals.

“It will be important tomorrow that the Greek prime minister tells us how this should move forward,” Merkel said at the Elysee Palace in Paris. “The last offer that we made was a very generous one. On the other hand, Europe can only stand together, if each nation takes on its own responsibility.”

Just after Merkel and Hollande met, the ECB maintained its lifeline to Greek lenders at the prior level, the equivalent of a drip feed. Yet it also increased the haircuts on collateral pledged against emergency liquidity, raising the discount applied to reflect the dire economic situation.

‘Serious Story’

The reaction of financial markets to the latest stage in the crisis was muted, suggesting its effects can be contained. The euro fell 0.6 percent to $1.1059 while the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 1.2 percent to 378.68 points.

“The Greek government has to take a decision tonight, this evening, on what they’re going to do tomorrow, and whether they come with a serious story to the summit,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in The Hague.

Greece today made a pre-emptive concession to creditors with the resignation of outspoken Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who had clashed repeatedly with his counterparts from other countries -- especially Germany’s Wolfgang Schaeuble.

His replacement, Euclid Tsakalotos, will likely prove less combative in style, although he shares his predecessor’s opposition to austerity measures and has a deep background in Tsipras’s Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza. Tsakalotos played a prominent role in the last round of debt talks, which ended abruptly on June 27 when Tsipras called the surprise referendum.

Referendum Victory

Tsipras can now claim a strong domestic mandate to negotiate after the plebiscite, in which 61 percent voted “no” to the latest creditor proposals. The endorsement came even after banks had been closed for a week, causing widespread queues at cash machines as Greeks waited to withdraw a daily maximum of 60 euros each.

“Tsipras’s margin of victory and Varoufakis’s resignation strengthens his hand in the upcoming negotiations,” said Marchel Alexandrovich, senior European economist at Jefferies Group. “Now it is up to Merkel and Hollande to decide whether to let Greece go, or to offer a better deal than was on the table 10 days ago.”

Unless it finds a solution to its cash crunch, Greece could drift toward an exit from the euro area -- an outcome that Tsipras and other European leaders say they want to avoid at all costs. Without funds to pay salaries and allow commerce to occur, the Greek government could eventually be forced to issue IOUs or some other medium of exchange, which might gradually evolve into a parallel currency.

“Time is running out and the window for a deal keeps narrowing,” Mujtaba Rahman, head of the Europe practice at Eurasia Group in London, wrote in a note to clients. “The euro leaders’ summit on Tuesday is likely to prove decisive for Greece’s euro membership.”

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Ie: "game over". The months of misleading are eover. They never wanted Greece to stay in the EU at all

 

Is Germany about to accept a big Greek debt restructuring? 5 Developments

Germany led the European opposition to reject any kind of debt restructuring for Greece. They insisted that Greece must make “reforms”, aka more austerity and that that is the only way out. One reason is that the German public would not react positively to seeing losses on Greek bailouts. Some had suspected the Europe did not want to negotiate with Tsipras. In any case, there was a clear German Nein to any debt relief.

However, things have materially changed, and it’s not only he resounding NO vote in the Greek referendum. Here are 5 developments that lead us to suspect that Germany is about to accept some form of debt restructuring for Greece:

  1. An option for the German Deputy Chancellor: Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s economy minister, was one of the toughest speakers against Greece. He even did the “dirty work” for Merkel. While he continues the tough line, he said that he “only sees debt reduction upon Greek reforms”. So even if for Gabriel many many conditions apply, this is now an option. Is he doing the dirty work for Merkel once again? He may be ballooning an option before his boss goes for it.
  2. French non-taboo: France has always been softer with Greece in terms of wordings. However, they eventually aligned with Germany. Now they are taking another step. French PM Manuel Valls may be raising a balloon of his own, perhaps preceding something similar from president Hollande, saying that debt restructuring is “not taboo” while opening the doors for negotiations. He also mentioned the geopolitical risks involved. Greece is in a very strategic position.
  3. Italian values: Italian PM Matteo Renzi made it clear that the Greferendum is about the euro or the drachma. After the results, he took a different stance, talking about values for Europe rather than “technocratic parameters”, calling for a change and a return to values. While we don’t have anything very specific here, this shows there is more acknowledgement of the results and the change in Europe.
  4. Greek referendum: With 61% saying NO to the creditors’ proposals, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has a strong mandate to pursue a change for Greece which includes the debt. The results had an impact on the aforementioned developments elsewhere. But that’s not everything. Following the vote, he also has the support of opposition parties that aligned behind him and got rid of the Eurogroup’s excuse: his flamboyant finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is gone.
  5. IMF report: The International Monetary Fund was generally in favor of restructuring Greece debt, but aligned itself with Germany throughout the negotiations. But on Thursday July 2nd, already before the Greferendum, we learned a lot more. Due to a leak, the IMF was forced to release its report on the Greek situation. Basically, the report says that Greece’s debt is unsustainable and that Europe would have to cough up tens of billions of euros in losses. In addition, the IMF said that Greece needs a third bailout and that the IMF will participate only if it includes a restructuring of debt. Merkel wants the IMF in, but the IMF is in only with debt relief. So, something has to give.

The Eurogroup is meeting with Tsakalatos representing Greece for the first time. This will be followed by a meeting of leaders, including Merkel in Tsipras.

The official stance was that Greece must bring new offers to the table and Greece agreed. This will surely consist of debt restructuring. And will Germany accept it this time?

Greece has less, thus less to lose. Greece will pay less than it owes in any case. If it is done in an orderly fashion, the write down could be lower.

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Merkel Mocks Greece And The Referendum: There Is Money, But The Deal Is Much Harsher Now (And No Debt Haircut)

Another day came and went with no breakthrough in negotiations between Athens and Brussels as new Greek FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos reportedly showed up to Tuesday's Eurogroup with nothing to discuss.

With the ECB tightening the screws on Greek banks and the German finance ministry as well as German lawmakers tightening the screws on Angela Merkel, the Chancellor is drawing a hard line toward the Greeks in the face of calls for debt writedowns from the IMF, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and the Greek people.

  • MERKEL SAYS IF GREEK REFORM PROPOSALS ARE SATISFACTORY AND PRIOR ACTIONS TAKEN, SHORT-TERM FINANCE CAN BE PROVIDED: RTRS
  • MERKEL SAYS SHORT-TERM GREEK FIX HINGES ON LONG-TERM PROPOSALS
  • MERKEL SAYS GREECE NEEDS MULTI-YEAR PROGRAM
  • MERKEL: GREEK PROPOSALS HAVE TO GO BEYOND WHAT BAILOUT INSTITUTIONS DEMANDED BEFORE REFERENDUM
  • MERKEL SAYS GREECE WILL NEED STRONGER MEASURES TO PLUG FINANCING GAP BECAUSE OF ECONOMIC DETERIORATION
  • MERKEL: EU TO DEAL WITH GREEK DEBT BURDEN AT END OF PROCESS
  • MERKEL SAYS EURO LEADERS DIDN'T DISCUSS AID PACKAGE SIZE
  • MERKEL SAYS SHE ISN'T 'ESPECIALLY OPTIMISTIC' ABOUT GREECE
  • MERKEL RULES OUT DEBT 'HAIRCUT'
  • MERKEL SAYS ECB BRIEFING SIGNALED GREECE NEEDS SUNDAY DECISION

    • More from Reuters:

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she hoped to have sufficient reform proposals from Greece this week to be able to ask the German parliament to approve negotiations on a new long-term aid programme for Athens.

    She said all 28 European Union leaders would meet next Sunday to discuss support for Greece provided Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras put forward detailed reform proposals along with a loan request by Thursday that were considered satisfactory.

    If the reform list was adequate and Greece took some prior actions to enact first measures, Merkel said she was sure that short-term finance could be provided to help Athens over its immediate funding needs.

    In other words, Merkel just told the Greeks yes, there is some money, but forget debt haircut, and the new deal is far harsher than what was on the table because the Greek economy is now imploding. Also, the deal will be 2-3 years at least to start, so even more austerity is on the table. So to all those who voted "Oxi", if you want your deposits unlocked well... tough.

    The headlines keep coming hot and heavy, in which we find that Europe now thinks it is Greece's god:

  • MALTA'S MUSCAT SAYS `SUNDAY IS JUDGMENT DAY'

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Greece Seeks $59.2 Billion Bailout as Tsipras Bows to Demands

In an 11th-hour bid to stay in the euro, the government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras offered to meet most of the demands made by creditors in exchange for a bailout of 53.5 billion euros ($59.4 billion).

European and U.S. equity-index futures jumped on Friday after the proposal was submitted to creditor institutions late on Thursday. The package of spending cuts, pension savings and tax increases almost mirrored that from creditors on June 26, which was rejected by Greek voters in a July 5 referendum. It will face its first hurdle in the Greek Parliament on Friday.

Though Tsipras ceded ground, he insists long-term debt needs to be made more manageable to allow Greece to recover from a crisis that has erased a quarter of its economy. He has a growing support base that includes the U.S., European Union President Donald Tusk and the International Monetary Fund.

“We are definitely closer to a deal than ever, as Tsipras has in the end given in,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington, citing concessions such as speeding up the pension reform to start next year.

Markets shared optimism that a deal was near. The euro strengthened 0.7 percent to $1.1110 as of 8:36 a.m. in Frankfurt. Italian 10-year government bond yields dropped to the lowest level in five weeks, while those on German 10-year bunds, the euro-area benchmark, climbed as investors retreated from perceived safety.

Agreement Risks

Risks would remain if an agreement is reached, ABN Amro Bank NV economist Nick Kounis wrote in a note.

“The deal would still need to be passed through various national parliaments,” Kounis wrote. “Even if it is passed, there is a risk that Greece finds it difficult to stick to the program in coming months. The economy looks set for a sharp contraction, which is not the ideal background to be implementing tough measures.”

“We are definitely closer to a deal than ever, as Tsipras has in the end given in”

It remains to be seen if the reforms are enough to appease the trio of creditors. A summit of EU leaders on Sunday will likely have the final say on whether the debt-addled country will get a new three-year loan.

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Euro traders getting cold feet into the weekend

Who wants to hold euros through the weekend?

A Greek deal looks like it may get done but nothing is ever certain and even if it does, there's no guarantee of a big euro rally.

I think there has to be more at play than it appears. Tsipras has rolled over and now his party has the knives out for him.

Yannis Koutsomitis reports that, according to the Greek constitution, if Tsipras doesn't get 151 votes from his own coalition he will have to resign and the mandate to form a government would fall to his rivals in New Democracy.

Here's a crazy theory:

Tsipras will offer this as a take-it-or-leave-it deal to the Troika. When they ask for changes, he'll walk away, saying they never would have accepted any deal. Then the Grexit is on.

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