German daily says time for Greece to leave the euro
Greece is reaching the endgame next week, Germany’s best-selling Bild newspaper said on Saturday.
Greeks are plundering their bank accounts, imports to the country are not longer guaranteed, rumors abound of drachma being printed and energy suppliers are no longer paid, Nikolaus Blome, Bild’s chief political columnist, said in an editorial in Saturday’s edition.
“Greece is unraveling, it’s coming apart,” Blome said. “Irrespective of how the upcoming parliamentary elections turn out, ‘business as usual’ won’t work any more.”
Billions of euros in more aid from Europe can help Greece through the next day, week or month, but it can’t bring about the far more important new beginning that’s needed in the economy, politics and administration. The Greek state “must be rebuilt, like in a developing nation,” he said.
“Someone among the eurozone leaders must finally tell the Greeks the truth: this fresh start can only be achieved with a radical first step,” he said. “And that means leaving the euro.”
[Bloomberg]
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_02/06/2012_445101
Prosecutor looks into pharmacists' drug refusal
An Athens prosecutor has launched an investigation into pharmacists who allegedly refuse to supply drugs on credit to seriously ill patients due to the state debts to the sector, while at least six hospitals are reporting major shortages in vital material.
The problems in the healthcare sector are growing as the cash-strapped state is unable to fund it properly, and those insured, including cancer patients, are often denied the supply of drugs they desperately need.
The head of the Athens Pharmacists’ Association Constantinos Lourandos told Skai television on Saturday that there are actually dozens of phone calls by relatives of people who have died of cancer and are offering to gift the drugs they possess and do not need any longer.
Pharmacists continue to refuse giving pharmaceutical products on credit to people insured at the National Organization for Healthcare Provision (EOPYY) because of millions of euros of outstanding debts, after the state cut the organization’s funding by about half a billion euros this year.
The Panhellenic Pharmacists’ Association (PFS) sent an out-of-court notice to EOPYY suggesting the latter has not fulfilled its contractual obligations “at all,” as it has not yet paid pharmacists even for March 2012, for drugs amounting to 272 million euros. If this is added to the debt outstanding from 2011, it comes up to 540 million euros, according to the PFS.
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_02/06/2012_445087
Cyprus president doesn't exclude an EU bailout
NICOSIA - Cyprus said on Friday it could not exclude a bailout to recapitalize a bank hobbled by exposure to Greek debt, but said it would be «chaotic» if the neighboring country left the eurozone.
Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said the prospect of the island entering a financial support mechanism wasn't a foregone conclusion, but one that could not be totally ruled out.
He also said «it would not be the end of the world» if Cyprus missed its stated target of a 2.5 percent deficit this year, and eventually hit 3 percent.
Cypriot banks have been hit heavily by exposure to debt-crippled Greece. Its second-largest lender, Cyprus Popular Bank, faces the prospect of nationalization if it does not find new investors by a mid-year deadline.
"I don't take as a given that we will negotiate entry to a support mechanism, (but) I don't want to absolutely exclude it,» Christofias told a news conference when asked if Cyprus, the eurozone's third smallest economy, could need external help.
Cyprus Popular Bank needs 1.8 billion euros to meet a core tier 1 capital - an indicator of financial strength - of 9 percent, before June 30.
The figure is equivalent to about 10 percent of Cyprus's GDP, and an amount the island can ill afford as it runs deficits and is shut out of international financial markets.
Economists and some officials on the Mediterranean island have been warning for months that it might be the latest euro zone member to need support due to problems with banking and the costs of an explosion that knocked out its main power plant last year.
That bill will likely rise if Greece leaves the euro zone given the massive exposure of Cypriot banks to Greece. The exposure is in the region of 23 billion euros, compared to the size of the Cypriot economy of around 17.3 billion euros.
Christofias said technocrats were asked to look at contingency planning to «deal with a chaotic situation» if Greece does leave the euro zone. «It is something I hope will never happen,» he said.
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_02/06/2012_445086
Moody's cuts Greek domestic rating ceiling
NEW YORK - Rating agency Moody's Investors Service said late on Friday it had lowered its ratings ceiling on Greek domestic debt issuers due to the rising risk of the country exiting the eurozone, but added it did not consider that the most likely scenario for the country.
Moody's said it lowered its assessment of the highest rating that can be assigned to a domestic debt issuer in Greece to Caa2, below the highest existing rating by the firm on any Greek security, which is B1 for certain covered bonds.
"Any rating actions taken as a result of the new ceiling will be released during the coming week,» Moody's said in a statement.
"Moody's indicated that although the risk of a euro exit by Greece is substantial it is still not what it considers its 'central case' or most likely scenario,» it said.
Greece holds parliamentary elections on June 17. Political parties that support and oppose the terms of the country's international bailout are running neck and neck in opinion polls. Moody's said the risk of a Greek exit from the euro zone might increase further after the elections.
Abandoning the euro would mean large losses for investors as government and private debt issued under Greek law would be redenominated and the country's economy and banking system would be hit hard, the statement said.
"That disruption would generally imply additional losses for holders of debt securities issued by Greek entities, irrespective of their governing law,» it said.
[Reuters]
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http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/55991
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| Press Watch, June 2 |
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| What's making the front pages of the Saturday press. (file photo) |
I’m willing to take a sizeable gamble that not even Alexis Tsipras anticipated the size of the can of worms he was opening when he unveiled the entirety of his party’s financial plan on Friday.
But boy, was that a big can, its worms tumbling out the tin and leaving their slippery mark all over Europe and Greece. And as for the local media, well, they’ve gone gun crazy this Saturday, emptying buckets of bullets in the general direction of the Tsipras financial plan and what its activation would mean to the country and the continent.
“Have you completely lost it?” is the question I Apopsi asks, making use of the now famous one-liner from a very popular mobile phone commercial in Greece, to lance at Tsipras. “At a time when the country is sinking”, says I Apopsi’s front page, Tsipras is leading a populist dance promising the impossible and pulling along Samaras and Venizelos in the process. The apprentice wizards of Koumoundourou street (home of Syriza HQ) announced that they can slash taxes, restore pensions to pre-crisis levels and take on 150.00 people in the public sector”.
Making use of the same mobile phone commercial, To Karfi refers to another line from it, to describe the Tsipras financial plan. “Alexi, you’re a check machine”, their front page roars, taking aim at every promise the Syriza head made on Friday and claiming that all the “checks” Tsipras gave out yesterday will most certainly bounce when cashing-in time is called.
Dimokratia doesn’t let up on the Tsipra salvos and quotes the interview Tsipras gave to Time magazine, where according to Dimokratia, he changed up his stance. “Tsipras takes deep Berlin bow”, they print in red letters, before going for the bigger type and yelling “Ms. Merkel is no Nazi”. That’s what Tsipras said of course, according to Dimokratia. Off to the side of this, a text box runs under a header of “Get up and look at him Andrea”, referring to Pasok hall-of-famer and former PM Andreas Papandreou, who increasingly looks like the basic blueprint that Tsipras is using to steamroller his way to power.
Adesmeftos Tipos runs with the Papandreou connection as well, but goes for the George rather than the Andreas link. “Tsipras programme is in the ‘there is money’ climate”, a direct reference to George Papandreou’s promise when he successfully ran for power and a promise which is clearly being echoed by Alexis Tsipras.
It is of course highly interesting how Tsipras is slowly heading or is being presented as heading for the Papandreou family playbook and truth be told there are many similarities to be found between his electional angle and those employed by Papandreous senior and junior. And it is so interesting, clearly because the elections of June 17 are being presented as the final nail in the coffin of the Greek political system we have known up to this point. Strange how no one is noticing how closely the undertaker resembles the soon-to-be deceased.
Meanwhile, To Ethnos keeps on the Tsipras programme, toning down the outright attacks somewhat and merely presenting party reactions to the Syriza financial plan, under a header that reads “Clash of two worlds over the economy”. With Pasok saying that the Syriza plan leads Greece outside the eurozone, ND accusing Tsipras of political fraud and Kouvelis seeing Syriza opening the door to the drachma, it’s evident that they weren’t too keen on it. Just in case you might have not guessed as much already.
Which leaves good-ol’ Avriani to stand on the pro-Tsipras side, as it has down for a while now and declare that “the bold move of Alexis Tsipras leads the economy out of its rut”. It follows that up by quoting Time magazine. “The future of Europe is in the hands of Tsipras”.
Right now, the future of Europe in the hands of any Greek political leader sounds like nightmare material to me, but I’m guessing Avriani don’t see it that way. Must be the sun.
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