Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The Endgame For Greece

Tsipras addressed the Greek Parliament last night, nothing new emerged and it is clear that Greece is not going to agree to the terms demanded by the Troika.

As per the Guardian:
"It is true that we are seeking an honest compromise with our lenders but don’t expect an unconditional agreement from us."
Thus, unless Greece obtains unconditional funding from Russia, we will see either a voluntary Grexit or involuntary Grexident from the eurozone in the coming days.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Tsipras To Address Greek Parliament

Greece Taking The Piss Out of The Eurozone


Pathetic! 

Immature!

Unprofessional!

Greece is taking the piss out of the rest of the eurozone!

Troika Nixes Greek Reforms Proposals

As per the Wall Street Journal:
"Greek proposals for a revised bailout program don’t have enough detail to satisfy the government’s international creditors, eurozone officials said, making it more likely that Athens will need to go several more weeks without a new infusion of desperately needed cash."
Indeed the Troika are singularly unimpressed with the proposals, as per a eurozone official:
"The proposals were piecemeal, vague and the Greek colleagues could not explain technically what some of them actually implied.

So, let’s hope that they present something more competent next week.” 
Scathing comments to say the least!

The final nail in the coffin for Greece is the fact that euro finance ministers will not meet to discuss Greece until mid April, thus Greece will not get any money at all until then (if at all).

There will be an emergency debate in the Greek parliament today, the end game has begun and it is probably a matter of days before Greece bites the bullet and leaves the eurozone.

Greek Talks Resume at 13:00

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Greek Cabinet Meeting Brought Forward

Greek cabinet meeting moved forward to 16:00CET, reform proposals fallen short of those required by troika.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Varoufakis Is Amused

Friday, March 27, 2015

Greek Government Denies Varoufakis Resignation Rumours

Has Varoufakis Left The Sinking Trireme?

Rat Considers Leaving The Sinking Trireme


Greece Gives Troika and Eurozone The Two Fingered Salute

As per amna.gr the Greek government has issued a "clarification" of its stance wrt "reforms":
"The list the government will submit to the Eurogroup for reforms will be an elaborate national reform plan of the Greek government, it said in a non-paper released on Thursday. 

The government stressed there would be no recessionist measures and called for the understanding and support of the Greek society. 

According to the statement, the memorandum ended on January 25 and the new Greek government signed for an extension of the loan agreement based on the Eurogroup decision of February 20. 

Negotiations are taking place on the basis of reforms proposed by the Greek side, and they do not include recessionary measures or measures of reduced pensions and wages or measures that will further throw the labour market off track.

"If we had signed to continue the memorandum, then what would the purpose of negotiations be?," it asked, adding that "the new government would have continued to apply whatever the previous government had bequeathed it. It is obvious something like that cannot be done - on the contrary." 

It cited laws that it had voted to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the overdue debts, in contrast to the previous finance minister's intentions. Referring to the previous prime minister, the government said that Antonis Samaras "in essence is doing what the technical experts began doing when they came to Athens. 

Despite the decision of February 20 - which does not say anything about the completion of 'the current programme' - Samaras and the technical experts thought that on January 25 absolutely nothing changed in the country." This is why, the government said, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent the letter to European leaders to meet on the sidelines of the EU Summit in Brussels, "to clarify the content of the February 20 decision. And that is exactly what happened." 

If the main opposition, the government said, "wants to contribute to the effort of the government to give the Greek society a breather, it would be best if it does not try, even through rhetoric, to mix the country up in the memorandum past - the power of habit is understandable, and the weakness of the opposition is understandable."

"In the significant days ahead of us, we are asking for the support of Greek society in the struggle for dignity, prosperity and social justice," it concluded."
This of course will go nowhere, the Greek government has in effect stuck two fingers up to the Troika and the eurozone. Thus Greece will default and be forced out of the eurozone.

 

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Greece Has But a Few Days Left

According to the Wall Street Journal, Greece will likely run out of cash on or around April 9 when it must repay €420 million ($460 million) to the International Monetary Fund.

There will then be two T-bill repayments to be met in mid April.

Where will the cash come from?

No one knows, actually everyone does know it won't come from anywhere as there is none left!

Just to help things along the ECB has instructed Greece’s biggest banks to refrain from increasing their exposure to Greek government debt.

Syriza wasted the last two months, now it has but days left before exiting the eurozone or worse.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Heinz To Merge With Kraft

Shh....Whisper It Quietly, But Greece is Broke!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Tsipras Leaves Berlin Empty Handed

The much vaunted and hyped meeting between Tsipras and Merkel yesterday (hyped by Greece that is) ended in abject failure for Tsipras.

Merkel has washed her hands of Greece, pointing out that the German government won't decide if the Greek reforms (anyone seen the new list that was promised by the way?) are up to snuff and noting that Germany will not offer any extra liquidity on its own.

Tsipras has therefore walked away empty handed, and Greece's fate continues to rest on the Troika and Greece agreeing terms (only if the Troika signs off on Greece's yet to be drafted revised reform list).

For absolute clarity:

NOTHING HAS CHANGED!

However, a lot of time has been wasted and the clock is ticking. Greece will very soon run out of money.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Greece Looks To Iran

Ahead of today's meeting between Tsipras and Merkel (wherein Tsipras will tell Merkel Greece can't keep up its payments unless it receives aid, and Merkel tells Tsipras no aid will be forthcoming without reforms) the Greeks has thrown this into the mix:

Pure coincidence of course that it is announced just ahead of the Merkel meeting!

Irrespective of Greece's games, today Tsipras either publicly accepts Germany's conditions wrt reforms and Troika access (unhindered and unfettered) or Greece will be out of the euro in the comings days.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Acropolis Now - Greece To Present Another Set of Reforms

The result of yesterday's late running euro summit was that Greece has been forced to agree to draft another set of reforms, to be placed in front of its creditors in the coming days.

By then it probably will have run out of money and its banks will have been emptied of cash.

But hell, Tsipras doesn't seem at all worried!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Greece Declares War

Ahead of today's EU summit, Greece has passed a “humanitarian bill” which Bild has described as a:
"declaration of war".

Thus we see Greece will leave the Eurozone not with a whimper, but kicking and screaming (which has been the game plan all along!).

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

The Budget 2015 Live

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Greece's Last Throw of The Dice


Farewell Greece!


German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is telling the world how it is, wrt Greece.

As per Bloomberg:

"None of my colleagues, or anyone in the international institutions, can tell me how this is supposed to work.

Greece was able to sell those treasury bills only in Greece, with no foreign investor ready to invest. That means that all of the confidence was destroyed again."
The clock is ticking, Greece as a result of its "game plan" will not remain in the eurozone. The only question remaining is when will it go.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Greece Plans To Push Germany Out of The Euro


In a speech made in May 2013, Varoufakis revealed his thinking wrt defaulting, devaluing and Greece's membership of the Euro.

The "strategy" of Greece's government and (in particular Varoufakis) has baffled many over the past few weeks. However, I have on this site noted that Greece may well not be planning to exit the Euro but instead pushing for Germany to exit it.

The smoking gun, validating this "strategy", has been identified by Zerohedge which quoted Varoufakis's May 2013 speech:
"..If Germany leaves, that is more likely for me, as far as I am concerned that Germany would depart from the euro...".
Thus we can see the "strategy" of Syriza, to make Greece so poisonous to Germany (and it certainly is succeeding there) that the Germans will eventually reject Euro membership and walk away.

Thus far the strategy has only succeeded in making Greece poisonous!

Friday, March 13, 2015

The Fantasy World of The EC

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has declared that Greece will not default on its debt, and said he could see a solution coming within weeks.

He is quoted by ANSA:
"We have come to the decisive moments.

The Commission is not a lead player in this phase, but we'll do everything to cooperate. What we exclude is a default. I think a solution in the coming weeks is possible".
Bollocks!

It is all very well living in fantasy land. However, as Juncker himself says:

"the Commission is not a lead player in this phase".

It is up to the Troika and Greece to determine if Greece will avoid default.

However, as Varoufakis has already stated:
"Clever people in Brussels, in Frankfurt and in Berlin knew back in May 2010 that Greece would never pay back its debts. But they acted as if Greece wasn't bankrupt, as if it just didn't have enough liquid funds.

In this position, to give the most bankrupt of any state the biggest credit in history, like third class corrupt bankers, was a crime against humanity."
Greece is determined to be thrown out of the Eurozone, whatever Juncker and his fantasists in the EC may wish for.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Greece Declares War on Germany

Reuters reports that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Germany on Tuesday of using legal tricks to avoid paying reparations for the Nazi occupation of Greece, and said he would support parliamentary efforts to review the matter.

For good measure, Greek Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos agreed today (the day the Troika arrive) to allow the seizure German property in Greece.

This of course will not go down well in Germany.

One can only conclude that either the government of Greece is stupid, or that this is a deliberate attempt to ensure that Germany forces Greece out of the Eurozone (thus enabling the Greek government to blame Germany for its failure to acquire funding).

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Greece Welcomes The Troika

As per Bloomberg, Varoufakis is quoted:
"The troika is a cabal of technocrats that used to arrive in Athens and enter the ministries with a kind of power play that smacked of a colonial attitude.

That practice is finished. We shall endeavor to do whatever it takes to provide the institutions with whatever information they need.” 
However, there is a vast gulf between Greece's posturing to the media and reality as Bloomberg notes:
"It’s impossible for Greece’s creditors to adequately audit the government’s accounts without sending officials to Athens, a troika official said. The government would need to fly hundreds of Greek officials to Brussels for the work to be done there, he added.

As Draghi pressed Varoufakis to accept the return of the troika officials, the minister said that the idea that Greece was opposed to such a move was a misunderstanding, according to one of the officials with direct knowledge of the exchange. 

Can they start soon? Draghi asked. 

Varoufakis agreed. 

Wednesday? 

And the deal was done."
Thus the Troika/cabal will return!

Monday, March 09, 2015

Troika To Return To Greece

The troika will return to Greece on Wednesday, whilst Tsipras goes to Russia on the same day.

Eurogroup Rejects Greek Proposals

The list of measures Greece’s government sent to euro region finance ministers last Friday, has been rejected and the country probably won’t receive an aid disbursement this month, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Sunday.

As per Bloomberg, Dijsselbloem said:
It seems their money box is almost empty.” 
No surprises there then!

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Greece Loses Its Mind


Greece has run out of cash, and has also lost its sanity.

As per Varoufakis's new letter to the Eurogroup, Greece now intends to wire for sound and video "onlookers" to act as non professional tax inspectors.

Also, for good measure, Greece wants more money.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad!

Friday, March 06, 2015

Greek Clusterfuck

Troika Nixes Varoufakis Letter

The Troika appear to have nixed Varoufakis's letter.

Eurogroup Meeting Off To a Shaky Start


Thursday, March 05, 2015

Troika To Visit Greece?

Rumours abound that the Troika are to visit Greece.

Unsurprisingly Greece has denied these rumours.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

UK Wins Case Against ECB

As per InfoCuria

THE GENERAL COURT (Fourth Chamber)
hereby:

1.      Annuls the Eurosystem Oversight Policy Framework, published by the European Central Bank (ECB) on 5 July 2011, in so far as it sets a requirement to be located within a Member State party to the Eurosystem for central counterparties involved in the clearing of securities;
2.      Orders the ECB to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Monday, March 02, 2015

The Euro Isn't Working


Heta's 7.6BN Euro Black Hole

Austria's Financial Market Authority stepped in on Sunday to wind down "bad bank" Heta Asset Resolution (set up from Hypo Alpe Adria).

Reuters reports that an audit of Heta exposed a black hole of up to 7.6 billion euros which the government won't fill.

The finance ministry noted that creditors can be forced to contribute to the costs of winding down Heta - or "bailed in" - under new European legislation that Austria adopted this year so that taxpayers do not have to shoulder the entire burden.