Around the horn with Greece items of interest....

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/54052

Venizelos to step down as finance minister

14 Mar 2012

file photo "Once I take over at the helm of the biggest party in parliament, I will have to devote myself to these new duties". The words belong to current Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who on Wednesday confirmed he will be stepping down from governmental post, while speaking to Alpha TV.   Venizelos who is running unopposed, despite an electional process still taking place, mirroring the way former Prime Minister George Papandreou took over the Pasok helm, is expected to take over the party reigns on Sunday.   He said he expected elections would be held in about six to seven weeks, in line with previous comments by government officials who have said elections would likely be held in late April or early May.   Pasok, who are projected as being able to gather no more than eight or nine per cent of the public vote, an all time low for the party, hope that Venizelos's prominent position at the front of the successful bond swap will find them rapidly gaining back some of their missing strength. (Reuters/m.papasimakopoulos) and... http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/14/eurozone-crisis-markets-rally-greece#block-23 6.17pm: More political developments. Evangelos Venizelos has just announced that he will resign as finance minister. Photograph: Kostas Tsironis/AP Venizelos, said his time at the ministry was now finished, with Greece's second aid package now signed, sealed, and almost delivered. He will formally quit after his Pasok party hold elections for its next leader this weekend. As the only candidate, Venizelos is certain to take over. He said this evening that Greece faces a simple choice: either take the aid package with all the conditions and terms, or reject it and leave the eurozone. Venizelos only took office last June, when then-PM George Papandreou firedGeorge Papaconstantinou and replaced him with the man who he had defeated for the Pasok leadership in 2007. Finally, it appears, Venizelos is about to take the prize. and let's consider the prize Venizelos is seeking if somehow he could win in the coming election... 5.49pm: Here's some reaction from Helena Smith in Athens to some of the points raised at the Open Europe debate (see 4.16pm for a round-up of some of the key points). The argument that Greece must implode to reform itself appears to be gaining currency especially among younger Greeks who are worst hit by the country's rising rates of joblessness. It is not uncommon to hear foreign-educated Greeks with dreams of a better future say that their homeland [for which read political and economic establishment] will have to sink further before they act to resurrect it. Those with political ambitions are waiting on the sidelines for the seismic shift that is widely expected to change the political landscape after elections are held in the spring. Many fear that Greece's public administration is so dysfunctional it is simply unable to cope or even process the notion of reform. The head of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises made the poignant point today that had Greece enacted the structural reforms required to make its economy competitive -- when its received its first EU-IMF sponsored bailout in May 2010 -- the sacrifices being asked of it today would be much less painful. Instead, the average Greek has been brought to his knees by relentless rounds of asuterity as the Greek economy slips ever further into the abyss. Incidentally, I'm aware that we haven't really explained how a Greek default would work. Megan Greene said a bridging loan would be needed - but switching to the drachma would be a very significant devaluation, making imports much more expensive. Greece's economy has been battered by four years of recession, so it could be optimistic to expect exports to immediately flourish. As one of our regular readers, Finisterre67 points out, Greece's exports totalled €16bn in 2010, while its imports totalled €48bn. The most recent data showed that the country's trade deficit increased by €499m in December, year-on-year, to €1,956m largely due to increased fuel imports. On fuel, machinery, electronics or foodstuffs, Greece currently buys in more than it ships out, so would probably have to borrow heavily to keep running in the short term. That brings us back to the bridging loan, but still, Greece could be swapping one debt crisis for another.