Greek finance minister says deal with EU will be done, 'even at eleventh hour'

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Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Saturday he believed Athens would reach an agreement with its EU lenders about the way out of its international bailout, "even at the last minute".
Asked in an interview with the Greek daily Kathimerini what would happen if no agreement was reached at Monday's Eurogroup meeting, and whether euro zone finance ministers would meet again in the coming days, Varoufakis said: "Our strong stance, based on logic, will lead to an agreement, even at the 11th hour."

Varoufakis said the two sides had agreed on many issues but privatizations and labor issues remained sticking points.

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It will be interesting to see what does "even at the last minute" mena

No trading for me tomorrow

 

Germany Gives Greece Just Enough Rope: Varoufakis Says If Troika Rejects Reforms "The Deal Is Dead And Buried"

As usual, the fine print of any European "deal" is revealed not only after the agreement, but after the US market close. So for all those waiting for the real punchline, here it is - it also is the reason why Greece got until Monday to reveal the list of "reforms" it would undertake:

"We’re in trouble next week if creditors don’t accept Greece’s reforms", Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis says. "If our list of reforms is not backed by the institutions, this agreement is dead and buried."

That's bad. But... "But it’s not going to be knocked down by the institutions."

For his sake, let's hopes he is correct in predicting what the Troika, pardon, Institutions will do. Because this is precisely what Schauble meant when he said that the "Greeks Certainly Will Have A Difficult Time To Explain The Deal To Their Voters": under the conditionality of the Troika's approval, the Tsipras government now has to walk back essentially all the promises it made to the Greek people - promises which by some accounts amount to over €20 billion in additional spending - or the Troika, pardon Institutions, will yank the entire deal and the Grexit can then commence.

And that's the bottom line.

It's also the reason Schauble was gloating: because he gave the Greek government just enough rope with which to hang itself.

Then again, if and when the Tsirpas government is booted out next once the Greek euphoria turns to disgust and disillusionment, does Germany really want to negotiate with Golden Dawn instead?

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Greek PM Tsipras makes a comical declaration of victory

Tsipras declares victory after defeat

If you can't win a battle, you can always pretend.

"Yesterday we took a decisive step, leaving austerity, the bailouts and the troika behind," Tsipras said in a televised statement to the Greek nation. "We won a battle, not the war. The difficulties, the real difficulties ... are ahead of us."

The only victory Tsipras can claim is semantics. The troika in all the latest documents is now referred to as "the three institutions."

The troika/Three Institutions gave up absolutely nothing in negotiations and Tsipras recommitted to the same amount of austerity as the government he replaced. On Monday Greece will have an opportunity to present some different steps but all within the same budgetary structure.

Just to emphasize the point (and twist the knife), other leaders have been rubbing it in.

"Their political problem is that this a reversal of their election position. There is absolutely nothing on the table that could be considered a concession," Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said.

In Greece's defense, they had no leverage. The ECB could cut off the ELA and Greece's banking system would be bankrupt overnight.

"We went through two months of agony, emptied the banks, to realise we are still a debt colony," 54-year-old electrician Dimitris Kanakis told Reuters. "The paymasters call the shots."

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Greek Drama Not Finished Yet

The exuberance from the deal reached on Friday of last week that allowed Greece a vital four-month bridge extension on their bailout agreement has begun to fade as the new trading week gets underway. Assets correlated with positive risk appetite are trading with cautious tones as market participants await the list of reforms Tsipras and the Greek government need to submit to their international creditors today, which if approved, will grant Greece the four-month financing extension. While finance minister Varoufakis seems confident Greece’s creditors will approve the proposed changes, the worry is that this list of reforms becomes the latest bargaining chip in the ongoing Greek saga, with Tsipras already walking a fine line and drawing criticism from hard line Syriza members who are already unhappy with the outcome of the negotiations, feeling that Greece has capitulated on too many fronts already. Not only will the outcome of the reform submission today bring about heightened volatility across financial markets, but the discussions over the four-month bridge period and the milestones Greece needs to achieve in order to obtain funding ahead of two crucial bond repayments in July and August will also keep investors on their toes.

The euro has given up Friday’s gains and is back pivoting around the 1.13 handle against the greenback, a product of the Greek euphoria fading and a weaker than expected IFO survey out of Germany. As per survey respondents the Business Climate and Expectations both improved slightly from January (though not as much as previously anticipated), while the current assessment of the economy deteriorated by a modest amount, disappointing considering the results of the recent ZEW survey. The DAX has managed to remain in positive territory, with German equities shrugging off the mixed-bag survey from IFO and instead focusing on the near-term relief of progression in the Greek drama.

The first trading day of the week is a light one for tier-one economic data, though existing home sales for January in the US are due to hit the wires in roughly an hours’ time. Expectations are to see a slight softening from December’s print, with the annualized reading for January slipping back below the 5.0M level. The greenback has begun the week on firm footing, and could receive another jolt should the housing data come in with a hotter than expected reading. The pop in the DXY can be attributed to the weakness witnessed in the euro, but also as market participants’ position ahead oftomorrow’s semiannual testimony to the Senate Banking Committee by Janet Yellen. There is potential for the dovish interpretation of the January FOMC minutes to be corrected by Yellen tomorrowshould she outline a mid-year rate hike is reasonable given the domestic economic conditions in the US, along with the fact that some of the headwinds associated with global growth on an international basis appear as if they are getting ready to subside.

As we head to print the loonie has buckled under the renewed vigor in the greenback, struggling under the weight of sagging equity futures and front-month WTI that has tumbled to change hands below $49/barrel. The sting from Friday’s retail sales numbers has yet to subside, with additional pressure coming from M&A activity after reports were released that Canada’s Valeant Pharmaceuticals agreed to acquire Salix Pharmaceuticals in an all-cash deal valued at $10.1bn USD. USDCAD has is trying to establish a foot hold on the north side of the 1.26 figure ahead of the opening bell, with a bullish break of the downward trend-line put in place after the late-January high and the subsequent consolidation period.

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They sure made a deal - with the devil

 

They got what they wanted.... to prove that they COULD make the system work towards keeping them. Now they know they can push and not get dropped.

 

Time will show, but I doubt that this Greek government will be long lasting

 

I agree, especially since they are now going after the previous government officials now.

 

Waiting for the deal. Let's see what happen at the eleventh hour.

 
Ashwell John:
Waiting for the deal. Let's see what happen at the eleventh hour.

Nothing will happen.

They will keep the "crisis" as the cause to do what everybody is ignoring now : the QE. QE is the biggest scamm in the history and they are getting ready to pour a trillion Euros in the alredy filled pockets of the rich. And we are going to be made to worry about the Greek crisis, Ukraine crisis, blah, blah, blah produced crisis just in order to not notice that we are turned into slaves

Brave new world is here and we love it. Soma in a new form :

"Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant" – that's what soma is. It's arguably the best tool the government has for controlling its population. It sedates, calms, and most importantly distracts a person from realizing that there's actually something very, very wrong – the citizens of the World State are enslaved. (Just think about the name; soma = "sleep" in Latin.)
"..there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon..."

We are all put to sleep

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