Tweets
MNI Eurozone
EU Source: Extending Greece Fiscal Target 1 Year Would Cost E10 Billion: #Eurozone: http://goo.gl/c2Lfr
EXTENDING GREECE FISCAL TARGET 1 YEAR WOULD COST E10 BLN: EU SOURCE
GREECE FISCAL CONSOLIDATION "COMPLETELY DERAILED": EU SOURCE
Germany: No EFSF/ESM bond buying without conditions.#Eurozone: http://goo.gl/tB0n2
No matter what folks in the Eurogroup are saying , the existing second bailout will need to be reworked and that means giving Greece more money .....
and.....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/pasoks-venizelos-says-greece-has-government
( Why is Pasok's Venizelos announcing Greece has a government - New Democracy won , right ? Why isn't Samaras making the call here ? )
Pasok's Venizelos Says "Greece Has A Government"
And off to largely irrelevant Greece, where former minister of virtually everythingVenizelos has just announced that the country has a government.
- VENIZELOS SAYS CONDITIONS FOR COALITION BEING MET
He adds that the key issue will be to form a bailout renegotiation team. In other words we have merely days before Germany says no in Greek and it is back to the drawing board for the beggars who almost could be choosers.
More from Bloomberg:
- Says ND, Pasok, Dem Left will take on burdens; caretaker finance minister to go to Eurogroup
- Greek party leaders to meet Finance Minister Zanias tonight
- Venizelos says EU summit will be battleground for bailout talks
and....
Not clear why the EFSF / ESM bond buy whopper still making the rounds..... refuted at Ransquawk
EU says there have been no talks at the G20 about the use of ESM/EFSF bond buys
- EUR/USD moves lower by 10 pips in the next minutes
- Bund futures gain 15 ticks in the next two minutes
- Bund futures gain 15 ticks in the next two minutes
EU Commission says there is no plan and there is no formal request to relieve tension in bond markets using bailout funds
and...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/9342997/Debt-crisis-live.html
10.29 Analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland reckon that the "knife-edge" Bank of England vote means that QE is coming in July:
The MPC voted 5-4 against extending QE purchases at the June meeting, much closer than the expected 7-2 outturn. Mervyn King, Adam Posen and David Miles voted for a £50bn extension, Paul Fisher for £25bn. In response to this we bring forward our forecast for £50bn of QE from August to July. Unanimity prevailed on Bank Rate – and we continue to regard a cut as unlikely.
10.17 Figures from Switzerland show that investor confidence fell to the lowest in five months in June, sliding to -43.4. Switzerland's economy is expected to deteriorate as the euro crisis and the franc's appreciation over the past three years threaten the country's exports.
10.09 Back to the eurozone for a moment, Jens Weidmann, president of Germany's Bundesbank and a member of the European Central Bank governing council, has said that it is up to Greece to keep the bailout on track. He told a German magazine that Greece must bring its reform programme back on track if an assessment by the EU/IMF/ECB troika comes to the conclusion that it has fallen off the rails.
He added that the Greek election had not changed the fact that Greece needed to stick to its bailout programme to receive further financial aid. "If there are discrepancies [from the programme], we have to analyse the causes, but first of all it will be up to Greece to demonstrate that there is a way to repair it," Weidmann said.
According to Reuters, he added that the Bundesbank's opposition to the ECB's bond purchase programme was known and that he was also not in favour of issuing joint short term "eurobills".
09.03 Efforts to form a coalition government in Greece continue. The conservative New Democracy, which narrowly won Sunday's re-run election, is seeking an alliance with the socialists of Pasok and with Democratic Left. Evangelos Venizelos has said that an agreement could be reached by midday today.
New Democracy leader, Antonis Samaras, is scheduled to meet with Mr Venizelos at 10.00 and with the Democratic Left's Fotis Kouvelis an hour later. There are suggestions this morning that the Democratic Left has agreed to join the coalition, but will not join the cabinet.
08.45 There might be mutterings of a bailout, but the likes of LCH Clearnet are still playing it safe. Europe's biggest clearing house has raised the extra deposit it takes from clients to trade most Spanish government bonds amid mounting concerns that leaders are failing to tame the debt crisis.
Bloomberg reports that the margin needed for Spanish securities due in 10 years to 15 years will be increased to 14.7pc from 13.6pc.
An increase in the margin requirement reduces the amount of cash banks are able to borrow using the Spanish government bonds as collateral in so-called repurchase operations, dimming their appeal, and meaning holders need to commit more of the securities to get the same size of loans.
“The LCH margin increase is part and parcel of a process where every institution involved in a given trade tries to protect itself, thereby accelerating the speed with which Spanish bonds fall,” said Sebastien Galy, a senior foreign- exchange strategist at Societe Generale.
07.50 The bond markets are happier today, following the news that eurozone leaders will discuss using the bailout funds to buy government debt directly - although nothing has been agreed by Germany yet.
The yield on Spanish 10-year government bonds was 13 points lower at 6.829pc, after falling below 7pc yesterday, while Italy's bonds fell 10 basis points to 5.79pc.
07.40 Louise Armitstead has done a very good job of explaining how the bailout funds could be used to buy government debt, and the crucial change that would need to be agreed first:
The European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) and European Stability Mechanism (ESM) were set up to buy eurozone sovereign bonds. But the capability has never been used because the ECB has been the main buyer of bonds through its securities market programme (SMP).
Since the programme started in June 2010, the ECB had bought €210.5bn (£170bn) of bonds. But in recent weeks the bank has stopped the SMP, despite Spain's bonds yields tipping over the 7pc danger level and Italian bonds pushing over 6pc.
Experts said markets were unlikely to be convinced by the plan unless Germany agrees to some concessions, particularly giving the ESM a bank licence.
Raoul Ruparel, of Open Europe, said: "With a licence the ESM could borrow from the ECB and then buy bonds. But if it has to issue its own debt in the market before it can buy Spain's or Italy's then the process will be slow and difficult because the markets are already almost closed. It's hard to see how the plan will work without the ESM having a licence."
07.30 Here's a bit more detail on what was discussed last night at the G20 in terms of using the eurozone bailout funds to buy government debt directly in the market - a job previously only done by the ECB.
Francois Hollande, the French president, said that Italy had proposed using the eurozone's new permanent bailout fund to buy the debt of member states saddled with high borrowing costs and that this was an idea worth exploring.
"Italy has launched an idea which is worth looking at," he said.
The proposal will be discussed at a meeting in Rome on Friday by him,Chancellor Merkel, Spain's Mariano Rajoy and Italy's Mario Monti.
"We are looking for ways to use the ESM for this. At the moment it is just an idea, not a decision. It is part of the discussion," he said.
Experts said markets were unlikely to be convinced by the plan unless Germany agrees to some concessions, particularly giving the ESM a bank licence.
Raoul Ruparel, of Open Europe, said: "With a licence the ESM could borrow from the ECB and then buy bonds. But if it has to issue its own debt in the market before it can buy Spain's or Italy's then the process will be slow and difficult because the markets are already almost closed. It's hard to see how the plan will work without the ESM having a licence."
07.30 Here's a bit more detail on what was discussed last night at the G20 in terms of using the eurozone bailout funds to buy government debt directly in the market - a job previously only done by the ECB.
Francois Hollande, the French president, said that Italy had proposed using the eurozone's new permanent bailout fund to buy the debt of member states saddled with high borrowing costs and that this was an idea worth exploring.
"Italy has launched an idea which is worth looking at," he said.
The proposal will be discussed at a meeting in Rome on Friday by him,Chancellor Merkel, Spain's Mariano Rajoy and Italy's Mario Monti.
"We are looking for ways to use the ESM for this. At the moment it is just an idea, not a decision. It is part of the discussion," he said.
and details pertaining to the greek coalition process......
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/56364
12.21pm Antonis Samaras has arrived at parliament for his meeting with Fotis Kouvelis.
12.20pm Greece must bring its reform programme back on track if an assessment by the EU/IMF/ECB troikacomes to the conclusion that it has fallen off the rails, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Weidmann told German manager magazin in an interview that the Greek election had not changed the fact that the country needed to stick to its bailout programme to receive further financial aid.
"If there are discrepancies (from the programme), we have to analyse the causes, but first of all it will be up to Greece to demonstrate that there is a way to repair it," Weidmann said.
He added that the Bundesbank's opposition to the ECB's bond purchase programme was known and that he was also not in favour of issuing joint short term "eurobills".
12.12pm Andreas Loverdos catches up on all the latests goings on, while Venizelos continues to chair the Pasokmeeting. Loverdos doesn't look that interested now does he? Meanwhile, with the meeting running over, theVenizelos - Samaras meeting has also been pushed back and so has the Samaras - Kouvelis meeting, now re-scheduled past noon.
11.56am If sources close the Pasok parliamentary meeting are to be trusted, then "heated" is no longer a good enough word to describe the goings-on in there. Apparently, former Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis asked for "those that have been succesful to enter the government", with Mimis Androulakis offering him an aswer of "and you consider yourself succesful?"
If reports are to be believed, the argument escalated and items were thrown, including an iPad.
11.20am Another name that looks a near certainty to take a position in the new government is National Bank of Greece head Vasilis Rapanos. He looks set to become our new Finance Minister.
11.04am Names continue to fly around thick and fast, concerning who will be taking each ministerial post. Press reports point to current interim ministers Giannis Zanias and Giannis Stournaras keeping their posts, while Kostas Hatzidakis and Kiriakos Mitsotakis, appear near certainties to be involved in the new government.
10.46am The latest meeting of the Pasok parliamentary group is underway. While the Venizelos proposal that no high ranking party officers are to participate in government looks like it will stand, there is no telling what the aftermath of such a decision will be. Party members Loverdos, Efthimiou and Chrysochoidis are just some of the "big guns" that have openly and sternly expressed their opposition to such a decision and it will be extremely interesting to see their reaction and what effect this will have on Pasok.
10.30am It was then down to Fotis Kouvelis and the meeting of his party's parliamentary group, which proved to be a far less splintered affair than the Pasok meeting. Kouvelis proposed that the Democratic Left support the coalition government, but without any of its MPs taking up an active ministerial role.
Rather, Kouvelis proposed, the role taken up by the party should be one of a more advisory nature, assisting in the selection of the proper individuals for each government position. Most of the parliamentary group were found to be in agreement, however there were soem voices of dissent, with Stefanos Bagiorgos, Vaggelis Zorkadis, Christis Stavropoulos and Andreas Nefeloudis being of the opinion that aboslutely no connections with the coalition under discussion should be established, opting to propose a role in parliamentary oppsoition.
10.20am Following the conclusion of the Pasok meeting, Evangelos Venizelos made a statement:
"Before the elections" he said, "we wanted to form a government of national unity, but with Syriza denying a role in this, we have one remaining practical solution"
He then went on to say that Pasok would actively support this government and that tomorrow the party's parliamentary group will decide on the exact mode of participation. He stressed that the most important aspect of this government was not the government itself, but rather the formation of a unified negotiating party, that would handle all aspects of the coming re-negotiations of the bailout agreement.
"Pasok and I will give our all in this battler for re-negotiation. Syriza could have been involved in this effort, but chose not to, electing the easiest role they could for themselves".
10.14am In what was arguably the event of the day, top ranking officers from all three parties met in parliament to discuss the details of the coalition government. ND were represented by Chrysanthos Lazaridis, MP and top aide of Antonis Samaras and by Evangelos Meimarakis, MP and president of the Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy.
Pasok were represented by MP and former minister Kostas Skandalidis (pictured arrving below) and by Stelios Angeloudis, the head of the office of Evangelos Venizelos, while the Democratic Left, by MP Dimitris Chatzisokratisand the party spokesman Sakis Papathanasiou.
The meeting was delayed by a few hours, due to the meeting of the Pasok parliamentary group prior to this, chaired by Evangelos Venizelos. As mentioned before, due to the positions presented by Venizelos, there were apparently heated exchanges and the meeting lasted longer than expected.
10.05am Up until a certain point in the negotiations, it seemed to be a certainty, that Democratic Left was set to contest whether Antonis Samaras was the right person to head the coalition government. However, these rumors were eventually extinguished, with Democratic Left clearly focusing on government policy, not the people involved in it.
Democratic Left (Dim.Ar) spokesman Andreas Papadopoulos: "different opinions prevail regarding the support or the participation in the government. If we agree on the policy, then we will agree on the persons. We have set out several realistic matters regarding the labour and social issues and on this basis we estimate and hope that in the end the country will have a government. The worst for the country at this moment is the instability and the uncertainty".
9.58am Highlights from the Kouvelis - Venizelos meeting
- Venizelos: "We agreed that we need to accelerate all the necessary procedures. The formation of the government goes hand in hand with the need to establish a national negotiating team, which should seek to review the adverse conditions of the loan agreement.
- Kouvelis: Our premise remains that the country should get a government with a specific programme, both for the internal affairs but also for the political renegotiation of the memorandum. We are proposing a programmatic framework. I have raised the issue of the reliability of individuals. I expect very specific answers from Mr Samaras. The process must be speeded up. The country must have a government soon. In the next few hours, it could be possible to move ahead if there is convergence on these points.
and.....
No comments:
Post a Comment