Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Here's the 'ugly scenario' that's about to happen if Greece doesn't get a bailout deal


By MIKE BIRD

MAR. 31, 2015, 3:00 AM     
Greece's bailout talks aren't going very well.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed Greece's parliament late on Monday, but he gave little new indication on a deal. Greece tentatively agreed back in February to extend its existing bailout, but a lack of technical detail means its creditors still haven't paid up even as the country is fast running out of money.

So what happens if Greece doesn't get the cash?

Greece fails to reach initial deal on reforms with lenders

ATHENS | BY RENEE MALTEZOU AND LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS

(Reuters) - Greece failed to reach an initial deal with the European Union and the IMF to unlock aid after the creditors dismissed a package of reforms from Athens as ideas rather than a concrete plan, officials said on Tuesday.

The lack of a deal further raises pressure on Athens, which faces the prospect of running out of money in a few weeks unless it can convince lenders to dole out more financial help.

Crunch time: Greece risks rising once again

Holly Ellyatt

A detailed list of concrete reforms from Greece had yet to be submitted to the country's international creditors Monday, prompting analysts to warn that Greece risks are rising – again.

The country's leftwing government outlined some reforms on Friday, but officials from the bodies overseeing its bailout – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission and European Central Bank (ECB) – were not convinced by its latest attempt to get a final – and desperately needed – tranche of aid.

One euro zone official told Reuters that the list resembled more of a "collection of ideas," than something to be presented to the Eurogroup of finance ministers, while another said a more technical list could be received Monday. The measures have to be approved by the euro zone ministers before more financial aid is released to Greece.

Greek PM says wants 'honest compromise' but not at any cost

ATHENS | BY LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS AND RENEE MALTEZOU

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday appealed for an "honest compromise" with lenders but warned Greece would not agree to an "unconditional" one, after its biggest creditor demanded it do more to show commitment to reform.

Greece Looks to Russia as Deal With Europe Stumbles

By LIZ ALDERMANMARCH 30, 2015

ATHENS — With the prospect of a default looming in Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is preparing to meet next week with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as a European deal to give more aid to Athens falters.

The timing has raised questions of whether the visit is an ordinary component of the new Greek government’s multipronged foreign policy, or a pivot toward Russia for financial aid in the event that Greece’s talks with European officials collapse.

Monday, March 30, 2015

ECB Nerves Fray on Greece as Supervisors Rile Central Bankers


by Jeff Black
2:01 AM EEST
March 30, 2015


(Bloomberg) -- Inside the five-month-old union between monetary policy and financial oversight at the European Central Bank, nerves are beginning to fray.
As officials under ECB President Mario Draghi seek to replace deposits fleeing Greek banks without blatantly financing the state, the efforts of the institution’s new Single Supervisory Mechanism to do its part are irking the old guard. Central bankers say they are concerned that overly-strict orders to lenders could worsen the Greek turmoil.

Greek Markets Show All at Risk Should Mistake Trigger a Default


by Lukanyo Mnyanda
3:01 AM EEST
March 30, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- In Athens, the unspeakable is at risk of becoming the inevitable.
Market metrics show Greece is in danger of sinking under the burden of its debt, putting repayments of about 500 billion euros ($546 billion) owed to European taxpayers, rescue funds, banks and bondholders in jeopardy.

Greece Discloses Expected Proceeds From Planned Piraeus Sale

Greece expects to raise at least $545 million from sale
By COSTAS PARIS
Updated March 29, 2015 10:31 a.m. ET
The Wall Street Journal

LONDONGreece has told creditors it expects to raise at least €500 million ($545 million) from the privatization of the Piraeus port, according to Greek officials.

The privatization plan has been controversial, and politicians in Greece’s new leftist-led government have publicly expressed conflicting signals about whether it would go ahead, spooking creditors. Privately, however, senior Greek officials have said it would proceed.

Greek Economic Reform Proposals Don't Make The Grade: Grexident Edges Closer


Tim Worstall Contributor

Forbes

We’ve at least one report that the proposals that the Greek Government has put forward over economic reforms to unlock more aid have been found, well, not quite enough. The way that this is going is simply confirming my long held opinion that the most likely way of Greece defaulting and leaving the euro is Grexident: that is, not by any sort of plan, but almost by accident as the various negotiators fail to reach agreement. At the heart of my view over this is the thought that the Greek negotiators, Tsipras, Varoufakis and others from Syriza, think they can get more from the troika (and, in reality, the Germans) than they actually can. Their offers thus fall short as they offer what they think they can get, rather than what is likely to be accepted.

Greece’s Fate Lies in Athens’ Hands, Not Berlin’s

Athens needs to carefully craft ways to comply with the bailout process, not try to change it


By SIMON NIXON
March 29, 2015 4:10 p.m. ET
5 COMMENTS
One of the Greek government’s biggest mistakes since taking office in January has been to assume that its fate lay in German hands. For the first two months, it refused to deal with the “troika” of international lenders—comprising the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund—since renamed “the institutions,” now known as “the Brussels Group.” It was reluctant even to negotiate with the Eurogroup of European finance ministers, which has had political responsibility for overseeing all eurozone bailouts.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

How Greece pushed Europe's creditors to the edge

After weeks of ugly threats and stalling tactics from both sides, Athens is approaching crunch time in deciding its economic fate

The Telegraph

By Mehreen Khan8:30AM BST 29 Mar 2015

Arriving for his first official visit to Berlin last week, Greece's Prime Minister would have been forgiven for thinking his maiden trip had not come at a better point in the eurozone's debt drama.
The boyish Leftist academic turned politician was regaled with red carpet treatment by host Angela Merkel.

List of Economic Overhauls Greece Must Flesh Out by Monday


by Marcus Bensasson
9:52 PM EET
March 27, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- Greek government officials plan to hold talks in Brussels over the weekend with representatives of the country’s creditors to put the finishing touches on an economic overhaul plan the government hopes to finalize by Monday.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Greece’s German Allies Aghast as Tsipras Fails to Assure


by Birgit JennenPatrick Donahue
2:36 PM EET
March 27, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- Even Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s friends in Germany are getting exasperated with his government after a visit to Berlin fueled skepticism that he can do what’s needed to end the impasse over his country’s finances.
While the atmosphere was good in talks between Tsipras and Chancellor Angela Merkel this week, an improvement in tone may not help resolve a standoff over the reforms required to unlock aid, according to a German government official familiar with the chancellor’s strategy on Greece who asked not to be named because the meeting was private. Members of Merkel’s Social Democratic coalition partners, who have sought to strike a more moderate tone on Greece than her party, were left unconvinced that he can resolve the crisis.

Opinion: Greek crisis nears a turning point

Published: Mar 27, 2015 3:30 a.m. ET

 By DARRELL DELAMAIDE
POLITICS COLUMNIST

Market Watch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The simmering crisis in Greece has the potential to become one of those seemingly small events that leads to big consequences.

The election of a radical government by a public exhausted from five years of debilitating recession, the war of words conducted by that government in the face of the iron fist of establishment power in the European Union, and the expected resolution either in the form of a total retreat by the Greek government and its collapse or an exit from the euro all this seems relatively small on the scale of global events.

But few expected the assassination of an Austrian royal heir to start World War I, or the shelling of a military depot in Gdansk by German forces in 1939 to lead to the conflagration of World War II, or, for that matter, the strike in 1980 by Polish trade union Solidarity in that same port city to lead to the unraveling of the Soviet empire.

he Greek crisis could well become a similar turning point in history.

Amid all the posturing, dogmatism and bad faith in the standoff between the government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European and international monetary officials is a genuine challenge not only to the postwar integration of Europe but the entire foundation of the peace ushered in during that period.

So if you’re sick and tired of hearing about Greece, think again.

WSJ Opinion: Did Saudi Arabia Just Start a War?(3:11)
Center for a New American Security Senior Fellow Robert D. Kaplan on the Saudi-led air assault on Yemen, and the prospects for a wider sectarian conflict. Photo credit: Getty Images.

For the first time since the early 20th century, there are the elements of a genuine revolution brewing in Europe, a continent plagued by violence throughout its history.

The bumbling, short-sighted policies of the German government under Chancellor Angela Merkel and the spineless Brussels bureaucracy dominated by Berlin are in many ways similar to previous miscalculations by European leaders that plunged Europe and the world into disaster.

And it is not helped by a U.S. foreign policy in disarray under the weak and uneven leadership of a president ill-equipped to deal with global realpolitik.

The Greek government itself seems to be operating in a parallel universe of false hopes. The economy minister, George Stathakis, said he is optimistic Greece will reach an agreement with international lenders next week even though their stated goals remain diametrically opposed.

he head of the Greek central bank, Yannis Stournaras, who was installed by the preceding government that was voted out of office, still maintains that an exit of Greece from the euro is not an option, even though it is emerging as the only viable solution if the country wants to get back to any form of economic security in the foreseeable future.

Far from finding allies in the other distressed countries of southern Europe, Greece has accused governments in Spain and Portugal of undermining its efforts to reverse austerity policies out of fear that the establishment parties in those countries will meet the same fate as the Greek mainstream parties defeated in the January election by Tsipras’s far-left Syriza.

But there is also opposition to Athens’ course from within the governing party. Stathis Kouvelakis, who teaches political theory at King’s College in London and is a member of Syriza’s central committee, says the party has to face up to the reality of its recent retreat on its election pledges and the nature of the forces arrayed against it.

In particular, Kouvelakis notes the successive steps taken by European Central Bank to restrict the flow of liquidity to the Greek economy, shutting down or limiting Greek access to various types of ECB financing.

“It should be clear, however, that these moves would bring about a dynamic that would breach fundamental constraints of the monetary union and would inevitably lead to the exit from it,” Kouvelakis wrote in his latest post at Jacobin. “In any case, the ECB’s relentless blackmail with its provision of liquidity places onto the agenda every day the issue of regaining sovereignty over monetary policy.”

It was the stranglehold that prompted Tsipras in a recent interview with Der Spiegel to refer to the ECB “still holding onto the rope that is around our necks.”

But Kouvelakis argues that covering over the issues by renaming the troika “the institutions” or by using weasel words like “creative ambiguity” is not going to solve the problem.

The initial euphoria over Syriza’s victory has quickly faded, but it can be revived, he says, if the party faces reality.

“In order for this to happen, however, the horns of battle have to blow again, and the ensuing struggle has to be waged with all due seriousness and determination,” he wrote, “not with PR stunts and rhetorical contortions.”

He cited the widely quoted words from Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis earlier this month before the Greek Parliament, when he said “the country is at war, a social and a class war with the lenders” and that in this war “we will not go like cheerful scouts willing to continue the policies of the memorandum.”

This is the kind of talk the world needs to hear from Greek officials, Kouvelakis says, “not the language of facile optimism that creates illusions and causes confusion that tomorrow may prove costly.”

Who thinks this can end well? Who knows what the consequences will be?


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greek-crisis-nears-a-turning-point-2015-03-27?page=2

Friday, March 27, 2015

Neither Grexit, nor Grexident. Euro and 'drachma' in parallel?

BRUSSELS | BY JAN STRUPCZEWSKI

(Reuters) - Greece is unlikely to exit the euro, either intentionally or accidentally. But it might be forced to introduce an alternative means of payment, in parallel to the euro, to pay some domestic bills if a reform-for-cash deal with its creditors is not secured soon, several euro zone officials said.

Athens has lost access to bond markets and international creditors are not willing to lend it more money until it starts implementing reforms. An official familiar with the matter told Reuters this week that without fresh funds, the government will run out of money by April 20.

Is The ECB Right To Play Hardball With Greece?


Forbes

By Raul Ruparel
3/26/2015 @ 10:06AM
The tensions between Greece and the European Central Bank (ECB) have been palpable for some time – years even. But they have recently become increasingly public and relations have become more strained.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has described the ECB as “asphyxiating” the Greek economy by depriving it of much needed liquidity. Unsurprisingly, this has provoked the ire of the fiercely independent (at least in his mind) ECB President Mario Draghi – reports abound of him shutting Tsipras down at a meeting on the side-lines of last week’s EU summit.

Charting Greece's Draining Coffers

12 MAR 26, 2015 10:26 AM EDT
By Mark Gilbert
Bloomberg

When Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem raised the possibility that Greece might need to impose capital controls in a radio interview last week, it seemed like a crazy indiscretion. Why would a senior member of the euro establishment effectively tell people "Hey, we're considering locking your money inside the country, so you might want to get your euros out while you still can," and risk accelerating outflows from the country's already enfeebled banking system?

Greece Hurries to Hammer Out Policies to Satisfy Creditors

The Wall Street Journal
Athens aims to submit overhaul measures by no later than Monday

By NEKTARIA STAMOULI in Athens and  VIKTORIA DENDRINOU in Brussels
March 26, 2015 4:49 p.m. ET
2 COMMENTS
Greece is hurrying to compile a list of economic overhauls that satisfies its creditors and secures desperately need bailout aid, as it runs increasingly low on cash and debt payments loom.

Key officials in Greece’s new government, led by the leftist Syriza party, were hunkered down in meetings Thursday to flesh out new economic policies with the aim of submitting a list of overhauls by Monday at the latest, senior officials said. Greece hopes that eurozone finance ministers can meet and approve the country’s overhaul program as early as next Wednesday.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

How Greece’s Exit From Euro Could Happen


by Nikos Chrysoloras, James Hertling
12:01 AM EET
March 26, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- With the fight to keep Greece in the euro now in its sixth year, everyone is running out of patience. More importantly, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government in Athens is running out of money.
While bond yields suggest investors expect Greece to stay in the euro, economists such as UniCredit Bank AG’s Erik Nielsen say it may be just a matter of time before he’s forced to print a new currency.

A Greek Surprise

Creditors no longer fear that Greece might leave the euro.

The Wall Street Journal

March 24, 2015 7:32 p.m. ET

When Greece’s government struck a deal with creditors last month to extend its bailout, we warned that the next Greek crisis would come when that four-month agreement ran out and Athens’s failure to reform triggered a new crunch. Turns out we were optimistic. It took Greece barely four weeks to roll back to the cliff.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

ECB’s Stournaras Says Greek Euro Exit No Option as Reform Sought



by Jeff Black
10:25 PM EET
March 25, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said a Greek exit from the euro area isn’t an option and wouldn’t help the country’s economy in the long term, as he urged the government to act quickly to agree on reforms with the country’s creditors.
“Grexit would deliver no benefit but a lot of pain,” Stournaras, who heads the Greek central bank, said at an event in London on Wednesday. “The new Greek government has a unique opportunity to implement bold structural reforms, which would be backed by a large majority of political forces in the country.”

Greece fails in bid for early cash release, reforms awaited

BY JAN STRUPCZEWSKI AND GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS
BRUSSELS/ATHENS Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:09pm EDT

(Reuters) - Greece failed in a bid on Wednesday to secure a quick cash payment from the euro zone rescue fund to help stave off potential bankruptcy next month, raising pressure on Athens to deliver a convincing reform program within days.

Athens had appealed for the European Financial Stability Facility to return 1.2 billion euros ($1.32 billion) it said it had overpaid when it transferred bonds intended for bank recapitalization back to the Luxembourg-based fund this month.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Greece Says It’ll Present E.U. With Planned Overhauls by Monday

By ALISON SMALE and NIKI KITSANTONISMARCH 24, 2015
The New York Times
BERLINGreece will present a detailed list of proposed overhauls to its eurozone partners by Monday, a government spokesman said, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met supporters and leading government ministers on his first official visit to Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany.

Greece promises list of reforms by Monday to unlock cash

BY GEORGE GEORGIOPOULOS AND ANGELIKI KOUTANTOU
ATHENS Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:01am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece said it will present a package of reforms to its euro zone partners by next Monday in hope of unlocking aid to help it deal with a cash crunch and avoid default.

"It will be done at the latest by Monday," government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told Mega TV.

Greece's left-wing government and its euro zone creditors agreed last week that Athens would come up with a list of its own reforms, which must achieve a similar budget impact to measures agreed by the previous conservative-led administration.

Soros Says Greece Now Lose-Lose Game After Being Mishandled


by Tom Beardsworth, Francine Lacqua
8:00 AM EET
March 24, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- The chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50 and the country could go “down the drain,” billionaire investor George Soros said.
“It’s now a lose-lose game and the best that can happen is actually muddling through,” Soros, 84, said in a Bloomberg Television interview due to air Tuesday. “Greece is a long-festering problem that was mishandled from the beginning by all parties.”

Merkel Points Tsipras Toward Deal With Greece’s Creditors

 Patrick DonahueJonathan StearnsAnthony Czuczka
7:57 PM EET
March 23, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel encouraged Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to follow the path set out by Greece’s creditors, saying his country belongs in Europe and she wants its economy to succeed.

Deadlines Near as Greece and Germany Seek a Consensus on Debt

By ALISON SMALEMARCH 23, 2015

The New York Times

BERLIN — With time running ever shorter for an accord to ease Greece’s debt crisis and cash crunch, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany met on Monday and sought at least to take the sting out of venomous exchanges between Athens and Berlin in recent weeks.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Keeping Greece in the euro: Mission impossible?


CNN Money
By Mark Thompson

The make-or-break moment in the long running saga over Greece's debt is looming.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met German Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday in a bid to bridge a growing gulf between Athens and its European creditors.

Tsipras arrived in Germany -- the biggest single contributor to Greece's 240-billion euro ($262 billion) international bailout -- warning that Athens will find it "impossible" to avoid defaulting on its debt repayments without more cash from Europe.

Austerity Is Not Greece’s Problem

MAR 3, 2015 32

Project Syndicate

By Ricardo Hausmann

CAMBRIDGE – When looking out a window, it is easy to be fooled by your own reflection and see more of yourself than the outside world. This seems to be the case when US observers, influenced by their own country's fiscal debate, look at Greece.
For example, Joseph Stiglitz regards austerity in Greece as a matter of ideological choice or bad economics, just like in the US. According to this view, those who favor austerity must be obsessed with the theory, given the availability of a kinder, gentler alternative. Why would you ever vote for austerity when parties like Greece's Syriza or Spain's Podemos offer a pain-free path?

Greece worries leave Europe subdued, Asia makes gains

BY MARC JONES
LONDON Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:19am EDT

(Reuters) - Caution about Greece ahead of a meeting between its prime minister and Germany's Angela Merkel prompted a nervy start to the week for European markets on Monday.

Shares and currencies in Asia, in contrast, had rallied on easy monetary policy hopes and another tick down in oil prices.

Greece Faces Decisive Week as Tsipras Is Set to Meet Merkel



by Nikos Chrysoloras, Anthony Czuczka
12:00 AM EET
March 23, 2015


(Bloomberg) -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the second time in five days on Monday, at the start of a week that may prove decisive for Greece’s future in the euro area.

'Moment of truth' for Greece and the euro as Tsipras arrives in Berlin

The Guardian
Helena Smith in Athens
Sunday 22 March 2015 20.06 GMT

Alexis Tsipras and Angela Merkel are to meet in Berlin for high-stakes talks that could prove to be decisive in the battle over austerity measures

When the red carpet is rolled out for Alexis Tsipras in Berlin on Monday, the euro debt drama will come to a potentially decisive turning point.

In Greece, Syriza Struggles to Deliver Promises as Money Runs Out

By JIM YARDLEYMARCH 22, 2015
The New York Times


ATHENS — Glowering with disdain, Evangelos Venizelos stepped into the well of the Greek Parliament and ridiculed members of the country’s new leftist government. They had vowed to roll back unpopular austerity measures that Mr. Venizelos and the prior government had pushed through. They had promised that Greece would stop kneeling to European creditors.

Mr. Venizelos, once a powerful minister given the task of defending austerity, offered a disgusted opinion: Who are you kidding?

Sunday, March 22, 2015

The Greece Issue Breeds Brinkmanship in the Eurozone

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMARCH 20, 2015

The New York Times

Nobody expected that the discussions between Greece and the rest of the eurozone about a new loan agreement would go smoothly. But things seem to be going even worse than expected, with both sides sniping at each other and refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations.

German media: Greece to remain liquid until April 8

A prominent German newspaper has reported that Greece has enough liquidity to last roughly two more weeks. If Athens fails to submit viable reforms by then, Brussels will reclassify the country's finances as "critical."
Deutche Welle
22-03-2015
According to the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS), EU Commission experts in Athens have confirmed that the country's coffers would be able to finance salaries and wages until the second week of April.

In Germany vs. Greece, who owes who?

By Anthony Faiola March 22 at 3:30 AM


BERLIN — In the Greek resort town of Nafplio, German tourists Ludwig Zaccaro and Nina Lange shocked the local mayor last week by walking into City Hall with a reparations check. The couple had seen a figure in the news claiming Germany owned Greece more than $74 billion for Nazi crimes during World War II — a figure they boiled down to $936 per German citizen.

“We thought, Germany should start by paying its own debts before demanding the Greeks pay theirs,” said Lange, a 55-year-old social worker.

Greece Continues That Slide Towards Grexident


Forbes
By Tim Worstall

It’s somewhat difficult to work out what is the negotiating strategy of the Greek side over this debt bailout deal. For it’s increasingly looking like that wonderful portmanteau invention of Schaeuble, the German finance minister, could be about to come true, Grexident. That is, Greece leaving the euro and the eurozone by accident, not by design. Everyone involved in the negotiations keeps insisting that this isn’t what they want to happen. But everything being done by the Greeks appears to be making this more likely. At which point one really does have to start wondering, well, is this actually being done by mistake or not? For it’s long been known that various of the Syriza people, the finance minister Varoufakis among them, privately think that they simply will not be able to reform the Greek economy as they wish to while inside the euro system. It’s just that the Greek electorate doesn’t think that way.

The bailout crisis: Germany’s view of how Greece fell from grace

Alan Posener
The Guardian
By Alan Posener
Sunday 22 March 2015 00.04 GMT
Athens’ defiance of austerity demands and recalling of wartime atrocities have angered Germans already worried about rising nationalism and economic decline.

Did he or didn’t he? Last week, the biggest media story in Germany was whether or not Yanis Varoufakis had flipped us the finger. After a video of the Greek finance minister “showing the stinkfinger” (as Germans put it) was screened on a talk show, a satirist claimed he had doctored the video and that the finger-flip was a fake. A day later he recanted.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Greece’s Tsipras Gets ‘Reality Check’ at EU Summit

 leader told Athens won’t get more money until much of its bailout program passes into law

By MATTHEW DALTON
Updated March 20, 2015 1:37 p.m. ET
41 COMMENTS
BRUSSELS—Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, came to Brussels on Thursday hoping to secure offers of desperately needed financial support from the currency bloc during a meeting with eurozone leaders.

Bond Markets Bet on Grexit

4 MAR 20, 2015 12:52 PM EDT
By Mark Gilbert
Two taboos about Greece's future as a member of the euro club were broken this week when  the German finance minister all but invited Greece to return to the drachma and the Dutch finance minister floated a temporary ban on Greeks' taking their money out of the country.

Friday, March 20, 2015

EU Asks Greece for More Reforms to Speed Aid Negotiations


by Rebecca Christie, Jonathan Stearns
4:05 AM EET
March 20, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- Greece must submit a more concrete reform plan to euro-area authorities so that bailout talks can speed up, European Union leaders said after nearly four hours of talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Brussels.
With EU chiefs warning that time is running out for Greece to overcome a standoff over aid, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said that the Greek government needed to submit new measures rapidly.

Greece to draft new reform plan within days - EU leaders

BBC
20 March 2015 Last updated at 05:57 GMT

EU leaders say Greece has agreed to come up with a new reform plan within days to secure the additional bailout funds required to prevent bankruptcy.

The development came after marathon talks between Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders in Brussels.

Opinion: Greece ready to play the Russian card

Market Watch
Published: Mar 20, 2015 3:01 a.m. ET
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-ready-to-play-the-russian-card-2015-03-20
EU intransigence may force Tsipras to seek aid from Putin

By
DARRELL DELAMAIDE, POLITICS COLUMNIST

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Greece is ready to play the Russian card, bringing a new geostrategic dimension to the euro crisis.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras moved up his planned visit to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to early next month instead of in May.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Dangerous liaisons

 The Economist
References to reparations and threats to seize German assets will not solve Greece’s economic woes
Mar 21st 2015

THE Greek crisis is not just an economic mess. Increasingly, it is becoming a geopolitical mess too. Alexis Tsipras, the country’s prime minister, whose radical-left Syriza party swept into government after January’s general election, has taken to tugging at crude political levers—from cosying up to Vladimir Putin to demanding war reparations from Germany—in the belief that this will somehow prompt concessions from the rest of the euro zone.

Does Greece want to get 'kicked out' of euro zone?

Holly Ellyatt   | @HollyEllyatt
19-3-2015

CNBC

With relations between Greece and its European neighbors at an all-time low, and the country's politicians appearing increasingly defiant in the face of criticism, analysts are questioning whether Greece actually wants to get kicked out of the single currency.
Encounters between Greece and the euro zone have become increasingly acrimonious over the last few weeks, as Greece's commitment to its bailout program and reforms has been questioned. Greece was granted a four-month extension to its aid program in February, but there are concerns over the pace of reforms implemented by the government.

EU to tell Greece time, patience running out

BY PAUL TAYLOR AND STEPHEN BROWN
BRUSSELS/BERLIN Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:25am EDT

(Reuters) - Euro zone leaders will tell Greece on Thursday that time and patience are running out for its leftist-led government to implement agreed reforms to avert a looming cash crunch that could force it out of the single currency.

Greece has been kept from bankruptcy by two international bailouts but now risks running out of money within weeks if it does not receive more funds. Greek banks reported the largest deposit withdrawals since Feb. 20, a sign savers are worried about the outlook for the country's finances and institutions.

How likely are capital controls in Greece?

Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem yesterday raised the prospect of potential capital controls in Greece. But how likely is such a scenario and what could bring it about? Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel investigates.

Raoul Ruparel
Head of Economic Research

18 March 2015+

Eurogroup sends Greece a warning message
In an interview with Dutch BNR Nieuwsradio yesterday, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said:

"It’s been explored what should happen if a country gets into deep trouble. That doesn’t immediately have to be an exit scenario…[In Cyprus] we had to take radical measures, banks were closed for a while and capital flows within and out of the country were tied to all kinds of conditions but you can think all kinds of scenarios.”

ECB Grants Greece Less Emergency Liquidity Than Requested


by Jeff BlackKarl and Stagno Navarra
11:01 PM EET
March 18, 2015


(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank raised the maximum amount of emergency liquidity available to Greek lenders by 400 million euros ($435 million), less than the Greek central bank requested, people familiar with the decision said.
The increase was approved by the ECB’s Governing Council on Wednesday, the people said, asking not to be identified as the council meeting was private. Greece requested about 900 million euros, one of the people said.

Warnings Raised of a Greek Exit From the Euro

By LIZ ALDERMANMARCH 18, 2015

The New York Times

PARIS — Just a few weeks ago, fears that Greece might exit the euro union subsided when Europe extended its financial bailout. But as a new war of words escalates between Athens and its creditors, talk of a “Grexit” is heating up.

In the last several days, European and American banks, think tanks and ratings agencies have issued a fresh round of warnings and studies calculating the damage to the currency union if Greece were to default on its debts or stop using the euro.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Technical Talks on Greece’s Bailout Not Going Well, Officials Say

 The Wall Street Journal

The European Commission, ECB and IMF are getting very little information, European officials say

By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER and  VIKTORIA DENDRINOU
Updated March 18, 2015 12:22 p.m. ET


BRUSSELS—Technical talks between Greece and its creditors aren't going well, officials said Wednesday, with each blaming the other for the snags in crucial negotiations.

Teams from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are getting very little information on the government’s finances and other key topics in Athens, two European officials said.

“The line was that the Greeks aren't cooperating,” said one of the officials, summarizing the institutions’ account during a teleconference among senior eurozone finance ministry officials on Tuesday.

IMF Considers Greece Its Most Unhelpful Client Ever



by Karl Stagno NavarraBen Sills Marcus Bensasson

(Bloomberg) -- International Monetary Fund officials told their euro-area colleagues that Greece is the most unhelpful country the organization has dealt with in its 70-year history, according to two people familiar with the talks.
In a short and bad-tempered conference call on Tuesday, officials from the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission complained that Greek officials aren’t adhering to a bailout extension deal reached in February or cooperating with creditors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the call was private. The IMF’s press office had no immediate comment on the discussions.

Opinion: Biggest threat to the euro? The clowns who run Greece


Published: Mar 18, 2015 3:01 a.m. ET

MATTHEW LYNN

Greece may leave the euro by accident, thanks to incompetence of the clowns who rule it
Marketwatch: Syriza’s Amateur Hour Is The Biggest Threat To The Euro:

A finance minister who poses for spreads in Paris Match, while he is not blogging or tweeting. A prime minister who angrily demands reparations for Nazi crimes, and taunts the Germans for their past. The double act of the two men in charge of the Greek economy, Yanis Varoufakis and Alexis Tsipras, has been keeping the world’s media entertained. Anyone who follows them on Twitter will have enjoyed the controversy they stir up.

Greek Bills Sale Will Highlight Diverging Fortune From Spain’s


by Lukanyo Mnyanda
11:19 AM EET
March 18, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- A Greek short-term debt sale on Wednesday will demonstrate how countries that were at the forefront of Europe’s debt crisis have taken very different paths. Spain yesterday came close to selling bills that paid no interest.

Greeks Lining Up for Social Services Feel Cash Crunch Biting


by Maria Petrakis
1:01 AM EET
March 18, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- In the halls of the IKA state-welfare center on a recent rainy day in the Athens suburb of Neos Kosmos, Katerina Dimas and her eight-year-old son had front-row seats in the drama of Greece’s cash crunch.

Greece rejects 'blackmail', seeks meeting with top EU leaders

BY RENEE MALTEZOU AND COSTAS PITAS
ATHENS Tue Mar 17, 2015 5:45pm EDT


(Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wants to meet top European leaders at this week's EU summit, a Greek official said on Tuesday, as Athens insisted it would not be 'blackmailed' over its debt crisis.

Greece vs. Germany: It's getting really ugly

CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/17/news/economy/greece-germany-varoufakis-finger/

Did the Greek finance minister really show Germany the finger? The Germans think so, and they are fuming.
Germany's best selling newspaper Bild published a picture of Yanis Varoufakis' raised middle finger, taken from a YouTube video, on its front page Tuesday.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The threat of Greece exiting the eurozone looms large


By Sara Sjolin
Published: Mar 17, 2015 1:31 p.m. ET

Morgan Stanley sees 25% risk of Grexit over next six months

LONDON (MarketWatch) — With hefty debt payments looming, a shrinking economy and political tensions, Greece is far from out of the ‘Grexit’ woods yet, Morgan Stanley analyst said on Tuesday.

“Contrary to many commentators, we don’t think that the probability of a euro exit has diminished. While we’d still put it at one chance in four over the next six months, it feels as if we’re at the high end the range, and its probability may increase further,” they said in a note.

Greece: update on public finances


The State primary budget balance has returned almost in line with the target, but mostly due to expenditure cuts. Revenues continue to underperform.

by Silvia Merler on 16th March 2015

Bruegel

At the end of last week the Greek Finance Ministry published the preliminary budget execution bulletin for February. The State primary budget balance has returned almost in line with the target, but mostly due to expenditure cuts. Revenues continue to underperform.

Greece's Euro Exit Seems Inevitable


DRACHMA TRUMPS EURO?

MAR 17, 2015 3:00 AM EDT

By Mark Gilbert

Greece's money troubles resemble a game of pass the parcel, where each successive participant rips another sheet of wrapping paper off the box -- which turns out to be empty when the final recipient reaches the core. With time and money running out, a successful endgame seems even less likely than it did a week or a month ago. It's increasingly obvious that the government's election promises are incompatible with the economic demands of its euro partners. Something's got to give.

Greece Grabs Cash as More Than $2 Billion in Payouts Loom


by Nikos Chrysoloras, Vassilis Karamanis, Christos Ziotis

(Bloomberg) -- Greece will begin debating measures to boost liquidity as the cash-starved country braces for more than 2 billion euros ($2.12 billion) in debt payments Friday.
Unable to access bailout funding and locked out of capital markets, the government will outline emergency plans to parliament Tuesday to increase funding. Payments due March 20 include interest on a swap originally arranged by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified publicly discussing the derivative.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Germany and Greece should look to Goethe to resolve their standoff

The Guardian
Paul Mason

Two hundred years ago Germany’s great poet and statesman performed a U-turn that some would like to see Angela Merkel copy

On a quiet street in central Athens stands the bronze, modernist facade of the Goethe Institut, which has been teaching German and spreading enlightenment about German culture since 1952. Last week, the Greek government threatened to seize the building, together with holiday homes and other German assets. Greece is claiming €341bn (£240bn) in second world war reparations from Germany – and if the government does not confiscate the Goethe Institut, there are numerous people in Athens ready to do it “from below”.

Greece Optimist Throws in Towel Seeing Tsipras Go ‘Plain Nuts’


by Simon Kennedy

(Bloomberg) -- Erik Nielsen likes to spend Sunday mornings ruminating over the world economy at a cafe near his west London home.

Greek Crisis Tests ECB’s Credibility

The central bank must decide if Greek banks should be allowed to use scarce liquidity to roll over their existing holdings of T-bills

By SIMON NIXON
Updated March 15, 2015 10:14 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

When the eurozone decided in 2012 to create a banking union, it did so largely because other ideas for deepening economic integration seemed too contentious. Ceding sovereignty over national banking systems was an easier political sell than, for example, handing Brussels new powers to borrow and spend.

Germany Won’t Negotiate With Greece Over Compensation for Nazi Atrocities

Athens should focus on tackling current problems, says spokesman

By ANDREA THOMAS
Updated March 11, 2015 2:02 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

BERLIN—Berlin on Wednesday rejected mounting calls from Athens that Germany should pay compensation for Nazi atrocities in Greece, further souring the mood between the eurozone’s main paymaster and Greece’s cash-strapped government.

After a Greek government minister suggested Athens could seize German assets, a German government spokesman dismissed the threat as groundless and urged Athens to focus on a more pressing issue: Fulfilling the conditions for the release of much-needed financial aid.

Germans Tired of Greek Demands Want Country to Exit Euro


by Dalia Fahmy, Elisabeth Behrmann

(Bloomberg) -- Berlin cabdriver Jens Mueller says he’s had it with the Greek government and he doesn’t want Germany to send any more of his tax money to be squandered in Athens.
“They’ve got a lot of hubris and arrogance, being in the situation they’re in and making all these demands,” said Mueller, 49, waiting for fares near the Brandenburg Gate. “Maybe it’s better for Greece to just leave the euro.”

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Italy, Spain to follow if Greece exits eurozone, says Greek defense minister

DW

Greece's Defense Minister Panos Kammenos has said his country's exit from the eurozone could be followed by Italy, Spain and even Germany. Kammenos' interview comes amid lack of progress in Greece's bailout plan.

Panos Kammenos, Greece's defense minister, spoke to German newspaper "Bild" on Saturday, saying his country's leaving the euro could precede an exit by Italy and Spain, followed by Germany in the future.
"If Greece explodes, Spain and Italy will be next and then at some point, Germany. We therefore need to find a way within the eurozone, but this way cannot be that the Greeks keep on having to pay," Kammenos told Bild.

Greece's Varoufakis Warns On QE But Doesn't Seem To Understand It

Forbes 
Tim Worstall
Contributor


The Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, has warned that the ECB’s quantitative easing program isn’t going to do much for the eurozone economy. It’s just going to fuel a boom in the stock markets. This won’t do much for real investment in the currency block. There is a truth here, of course there is. QE will indeed produce a boom in both the stock and bond markets. Yet this is what seems not to be understood: this is the point of QE, this is how it actually works.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Greece’s Alexis Tsipras Receives Cool Welcome at European Commission



‘I don’t think we have made sufficient progress,’ commission’s Juncker tells Greek prime minister

By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER And  VIKTORIA DENDRINOU

Updated March 13, 2015 4:34 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

BRUSSELSGreece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras received a cool welcome Friday from the president of the European Commission, amid heightening tensions between Athens and other European capitals over negotiations on desperately needed financial aid.

“I am not satisfied with the developments in recent weeks,” Jean Claude-Juncker said as he received Mr. Tsipras at the commission’s headquarters in Brussels. “I don’t think we have made sufficient progress.”

EU executive warns of Grexit 'catastrophe', urges euro solidarity


BY JAN STRUPCZEWSKI AND ALASTAIR MACDONALD

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/14/us-eurozone-greece-idUSKBN0M90PH20150314

BRUSSELS Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:34pm EDT

(Reuters) - The European Commission warned of "catastrophe" if Greece has to abandon the euro and its chief executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, urged EU governments to show solidarity as Athens struggles to secure more credit.

It’s Time for the E.U. to Stop Bullying Greece

MARCH 13, 2015

The New Yorker

BY JOHN CASSIDY

ew weeks ago, I wrote a post saying that big European countries had outmaneuvered Greece in negotiations to extend the country’s financial bailout, resulting in an interim deal, which was signed on February 20th, in Brussels. In a rebuttal at Social Europe, the economist James K. Galbraith, a supporter of Greece’s leftist Syriza government and a former colleague of Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s finance minister, took me to task, saying that Greece had received what it needed: some fiscal space and a guarantee of financial stability. In the Times, Paul Krugman also argued that the Greeks had done pretty well in the deal.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Germany Urges Greece to Honor Commitment

Angela Merkel’s spokesman insists that crisis isn't a ‘private feud’ between Athens and Berlin

The Wall Street Journal

By ANDREA THOMAS
Updated March 13, 2015 11:26 a.m. ET

BERLINGermany wants Greece to stay in the eurozone, but it is now in the hands of the government in Athens to honor its commitment to overhaul its economy, senior German government officials have said.

Schaeuble's Right, The Most Likely Cause Of Grexit Is A Mistake, Human Error

Forbes
By Tim Worstall

This is something that I’ve been saying for some time now, that if Greece really does leave the euro then the most likely cause of it doing so will be that someone has made a mistake. Now, I believe that Greece should leave (in common with many economists): but just about every European politician believes that it should not. And most Greek politicians believe that it should not leave, as is also the express wish of most Greek citizens. Given that it is the politicians actually running things here then there seems to be no good reason why Greece either should or will leave.

If Greece Embraces Uncertainty, Innovation Will Follow

George Serafeim
MARCH 13, 2015
Harvard Business Review

No matter what happens with the Greek bailout, all parties agree that the Greek economy will have to become more competitive. Many politicians and commentators mention two critical factors in accomplishing this: increasing innovative capacity and reducing bureaucracy. Both are important, but they are far more difficult to achieve than many understand because they are, to a significant extent, influenced by culture.

Greece lodges complaint over German FM Schäuble's 'naïve' comment

Greece has accused Germany's finance minister of insulting his Greek counterpart. It comes as talks take place over the country's economic future, and as relations between the two countries reach an all-time low.

The allegation compounds the bad feelings between the two European nations, already strained over Greece's international loans program.
A spokesman for the Greek Foreign Ministry, Constantinos Koutras, confirmed that a complaint was made to the German Foreign Ministry on Tuesday night concerning the alleged remarks.
"As a minister of a country that is our friend and our ally, he cannot personally insult a colleague," Koutras said, but did not go into further detail.

Greece Complains About Schaeuble in Deepening Conflict


by Rainer Buergin, Eleni Chrepa

(Bloomberg) -- Greece’s war of words with Germany deepened as Greece renewed demands for war reparations and formally complained about Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Germany and Greece confirmed Thursday that the Greek ambassador in Berlin made an official protest late Tuesday to the German Foreign Ministry over comments made by Schaeuble.
Schaeuble and his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis have traded barbs in recent weeks, with Schaeuble suggesting on Tuesday that Varoufakis needed to look more closely at an agreement Greece signed in February and commenting on his fellow minister’s communication strategy. Schaeuble said Thursday that any suggestion he had insulted Varoufakis was “absurd.”

O.E.C.D. Will Advise Greece on Economic Overhauls

By DAVID JOLLYMARCH 12, 2015

The New York Times

PARISGreece will get advice from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on ways to revamp the country’s economy, under a deal announced on Thursday.

The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and the head of the O.E.C.D., José Ángel Gurría, made the announcement at a news conference in Paris, indicating that Mr. Gurría’s group would help Greece with the economic changes that its international creditors are demanding in exchange for unlocking additional bailout money.

Greece Doesn’t Need Next Aid Tranche to Meet Its Obligations, Tsipras Says

Greek prime minister says the country will fulfill its financial responsibilities

By WILLIAM HOROBIN
March 12, 2015 1:39 p.m. ET

PARIS—Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Thursday that the country will be able to fulfill its financial responsibilities, even if creditors don't a pay a tranche of aid.

European and International Monetary Fund officials are currently in Athens assessing whether Greece is meeting the conditions for the tranche of aid from the current bailout program of €240 billion ($254.7 billion).

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Greek payment deadlines ahead - pressure on Greece is increasing


by Silvia Merler on 10th March 2015

Discussions between Greece and its creditors are due to restart tomorrow. In the meantime, the pressure on Greece is increasing.
 Here we take a look at the relevant deadlines ahead for the Greek State coffers.

Redemptions to official creditors

The path of redemptions to public creditors in 2015 is dominated by repayments to the IMF, T-Bills rollover and repayment of bonds held by the ECB

As previously discussed, the path of redemptions to public creditors in 2015 is dominated by repayments to the IMF, T-Bills rollover and, in July and August, repayment of bonds held by the ECB. In March, Greece has 1.2 billion euros left to repay to the IMF, in three tranches: 335 million will be due on the 13th of March, 558 million on the 16th of March and 335 million on the 20th. On top of this, Greece will need to roll over 1.3 billion of T-Bills expiring on March 13th and 1.6 billion on March 20th. Once the March deadlines have passed, April and May will be relatively quiet, before funding challenges resume in June, and most importantly in the summer with the big tranches due to the ECB.

The EU and Whose Army?

MAR 12, 2015 5:03 AM EDT

By The Editors

Bloomberg

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, has correctly identified a serious problem: Europe's military and diplomatic ineptitude, most prominently on display in its weak and disorganized response to the crisis in Ukraine. Unfortunately, his proposed solution -- an EU military force -- is unworkable, impolitic and unwise.

Delight or Dread as Euro Falls

By DAVID JOLLYMARCH 11, 2015
 The New York Times
PARIS — For Hervé Montjotin, chief executive of the French trucking and logistics group Norbert Dentressangle, the euro’s steep plunge against the dollar could not be more welcome.

In the months since his company bought Jacobson, an American contract logistics company, the currency’s decline — down about 23 percent over the past year — has meant a windfall when dollars earned in the United States are translated back into euros.

“We bought a profitable business, and that business now makes 20 percent more in euros than when we got it,” he said. “We’ve either been very skilled or very lucky.”

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Get Receipts, Win a Car: How Greece’s VAT Lottery Plan Worked in Portugal


By  PATRICIA KOWSMANN

The Wall Street Journal

Greece has been mocked for coming up with unusual measures to tackle tax evasion, from hiring students and tourists as undercover inspectors to offering lottery prizes tied to sales-tax receipts.

To know if at least one of these measures work, take a look at Portugal.

Since April last year, the Portuguese government has been running a raffle for people who demand receipts for the goods and services they buy, thereby forcing those businesses to pay value-added taxes. The result? More than 40 lucky Portuguese are now in the possession of a brand new Audi. And revenue from VAT has risen more than 4%, or €563 million ($611 million), while private consumption rose just 2%.

Germany used legal tricks to avoid WW2 reparations: Greece

BY LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS
ATHENS Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:04pm EDT

(Reuters) - 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.

His comments are likely to heighten tensions between Athens and Berlin as Greece's new, leftist government struggles to persuade its euro zone partners to renegotiate the terms of a 240 billion euro ($260 billion) bailout.

Chances Of Greek Euro Exit Have Not Diminished

 By Henry To 
 Forbes

Both European politicians and investors must be experiencing a sense of déjà vu with the current Greek government and its fruitless attempts to extract more lenient terms for its 240 billion euro bailout package orchestrated by the troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF ).

Germany's Merkel narrowly avoided bigger revolt on Greece - sources

BY MATTHIAS SOBOLEWSKI AND STEPHEN BROWN
BERLIN Tue Mar 10, 2015 6:04pm EDT


(Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel narrowly averted a far bigger rebellion last month on Greece's bailout extension among her conservatives, many more of whom would have voted 'Nein' but for her finance minister's powers of persuasion, lawmakers said.