Greece and Troika playing stall ball .... If the ECB won't extend maturities for Greek Debt nor lower interest rates , this whole dance is just killing time until after November 6th....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9592438/Debt-crisis-ECB-board-member-shuts-door-on-Greek-pleas-for-leniency.html

By Szu Ping Chan

4:02PM BST 07 Oct 2012

76 Comments

Mr Asmussen said that the ECB could not lengthen the time period for loans to Greece or lower interest rates as "both concessions would be a form of debt forgiveness and therefore a direct financial support for the Greek state.

"That would not be allowed under the law governing the ECB," he said.

He also said that it would be wrong for Greece to say it needed more time but not more money.

"A temporary extension of fiscal targets automatically means that Greece needs more financial assistance from abroad." he told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

"It is logically quite wrong to say: we need more time, but not more money."

Mr Asmussen also said that statements by ECB members, including president Mario Draghi to do "everything to defend the euro" had helped to ease market tensions, but warned that the current calm was "deceptive", and called for all eurozone countries - including Germany and France - to reform.

Last week, Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras repeated his call for "accommodating policy" from the ECB regarding the payment of the country's debt and interest payments.

"If they could roll them over for instance that would be positive, that would make the funding gap much smaller," said Mr Samaras.

Greece's finance minister confirmed on Saturday that there were still disagreements over a fresh austerity package amounting to nearly €13.5bn (£10.9bn) over the next two years.

Following a meeting with "troika" officials from the ECB, International Monetary Fund and European Commission, Yannis Stournaras admitted that there were "deviations" in opinion.

Eurozone finance ministers will gather in Luxembourg on Monday for the inaugural meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which will replace the European Financial Stability Facility as the eurozone's permanent bail-out fund.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also visit Greece for the first time since the eurozone debt crisis erupted next week, in a show of support for Athens after it said it would run out of money at the end of November without fresh international aid.

"It is a trip that of course happens to the backdrop of this very difficult situation that Greece is going through right now, the massive adjustment and reform measures that have shaped Greece for the past two years," a spokesman said.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the opposition Syriza party, accused the German Chancellor of “coming to Athens to save the corrupt, disgraced and servile political system.

“We will give her the welcome she deserves,” he added.

and....



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-07/over-6000-cops-will-protect-merkel-her-6-hour-visit-athens

Over 6,000 Cops Will Protect Merkel On Her 6 Hour Visit To Athens

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/07/2012 13:39 -0400

• European Central Bank
 
• Eurozone
 
• George Papandreou
 
• Germany
 
• Greece
• International Monetary Fund
 
• Lehman
 
• Recession
 
• Reuters
 
• Unemployment

Angela Merkel is finally coming to the one country where the local media will not tire of photoshopping her in various Nazi outfits. The result: at least 6,000 policemen (and more like7,000 according to Spiegel) will be deployed to protect her on her 6 hour visit to Greece on Tuesday, the first since the crisis erupted in 2009, and which has seen Greek unemployment explode from manageable to 25% at last check. Another result: parties from across the spectrum have said they will protest her visit, and strikes will further shut down what is already a completely shuttered economy. "She does not come to support Greece, which her policies have brought to the brink. She comes to save the corrupt, disgraced and servile political system," said Alexis Tsipras, who leads the opposition Syriza alliance. "We will give her the welcome she deserves."..."We don't want her here," said Yannis Georgiou, 72, who has seen his pension cut by one third. "We will take to the streets against austerity and against the government. Maybe Merkel will hear something and see what we're going through." Finally, with virtually the entire police force tasked with defending M erkel from the residents of her Southeastern European colony, it means that virtually every other place of interest will be left unguarded. Hopefully, nobody in Greece has seen Die Hard with a Vengeance and has access to dump trucks. The one thing Greece has going for it: there is virtually no official gold left anywhere that can be stolen (most of it already has been transferred elsewhere), or otherwise any tourist armed with a camera and located in the vicinity of the National Bank of Greece could film a sequel to what many consider the best Die Hard of all.

From Reuters:

About 6,000 policemen will be deployed in the capital for her 6-hour visit, turning the city centre into a no-go zone for protest marches planned by labour unions and opposition parties.

Merkel's visit is a sign of Germany's support for the coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras as it struggles to agree new budget cuts with international lenders, overcome the objections of reluctant coalition partners and cope with rising public anger.

After toying with the idea of a Greek exit from the euro zone in the first half of 2012, Merkel has come full circle and decided the risks of the country leaving are too high, especially with a German election looming next year.

The trip is a sign of German solidarity, a message to the Greek leadership and people that Berlin does not want to cut them loose, and a signal to the members of Merkel's coalition who want Greece out that it's not going to happen soon.

At the same time, the trip shows Merkel's trust in Samaras. Aides to the chancellor say they have been positively surprised by his commitment to reform. One reason for not visiting Greece before was frustration with progress under his predecessors, technocrat Lucas Papademos and Socialist George Papandreou.

The Greek government was ecstatic about the news, promising to treat Merkel with the honours befitting the leader of a great nation. Greek officials credited Samaras's charm offensive in Berlin in August for Germany's change of heart.

"Samaras showed a real will to change things. He stressed what Greece had to do, not what others had to do for Greece," a Greek government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Merkel is scheduled to meet Samaras, President Karolos Papoulias and representatives of Greek industry.

In a measure of tension between Athens and Berlin earlier this year, Papoulias accused Merkel's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble of insulting the country by likening Greece to a bottomless pit.

The locals are hardly as excited as their politicians, who, just like in the US, are merely doing all they can to perpetuate a status quo that afford them to retain their wealth. For now.

The tone was more subdued in the newspapers on Sunday. To Proto Thema ran a "HEIL" headline but most others called on Merkel to take a hard look at the suffering of Greek people during her visit.

"Tell Merkel the truth," wrote Nikos Hatzinikolaou in Real News. "With unemployment at 25 percent and recession at 7 percent, for a fifth year, can lenders expect the country to survive and pay back its debts?"

The visit gives Merkel a chance to get a first-hand view of a country that could have a major influence on her own re-election hopes.

Greece is stuck in tough negotiations with inspectors from the "troika" of the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank over a fresh wave of 11.5 billion euros in cuts for the next two years, a condition for getting an installment of the 130 billion euro bailout which is keeping the country afloat.

As difficult as these talks are, lenders are now realising Greece needs more time, money or both. The IMF wants official lenders such as Germany to take a "haircut" under which the value of the Greek debt they hold would be radically reduced. Private bondholders have already swallowed such a hit but EU partners prefer other measures than to suffer more losses.

In order to avoid going back to parliament to request a third rescue for Athens - a step Merkel allies acknowledge could be political suicide for her - Germany will probably have to agree to other concessions to plug a hole in Greece's finances.

These could include giving Samaras an extra two years to make painful cuts and agreeing to a reduction in the interest rates Athens pays on its EU loans.

These could... although an extension is just as likely to be political suicide as per recent German political rhetoric. The best Greece can hope for is that nothing happens until the US election in November, which should be feasible. Recently Greece said it has enough cash to last it for another 3 weeks. After that an already belligerent Troika will return and likely make it clear that just like in the case of Lehman, everyone is now quite well provisioned for a Greek departure from the Eurozone. The only question question then is whether the other countries will follow suit in Greece's footsteps. Ideally, the answer for the continent which has long ago run out of assets that can be pledged for new debt, is yes. Realistically, the tragicomedy will continue as long as the last euro can be transferred from the near annihilated middle class, to the offshore bank accounts of the wealthiest, and the bankers of course.

and.....








http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_06/10/2012_464952

Troika talks prolonged

 No final deal reached on Saturday; negotiations to continue after Eurogroup

European Central Bank's (ECB) Klaus Masuch arrives at the finance ministry for a meeting with Greek finance minister Yannis Stournaras, in Athens on Saturday.

Greece is to resume talks with the troika after Monday’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers in negotiations that may last another two weeks despite both sides noting progress on Saturday.
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras met with officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund for more than three hours on Saturday but said that talks would have to continue next week as there was no final agreement on the details of the 13.5-billion-euro austerity package demanded by Greece’s lenders.
“The talks will go on as there is some divergence on certain issues,” said Stournaras after meeting Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday. He insisted that the differences that needed to be bridged were fiscal rather than political.
“There are no political solutions to be sought; there are simply negotiations with the troika,” he said, adding that the visiting officials would also be at Monday’s Eurogroup meeting to brief finance ministers on the talks in Athens.
Greece is hoping that following the briefing, eurozone finance ministers will issue a statement confirming that there has been progress in the negotiations. Speaking in Riyadh on Saturday, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said talks in Athens had been “very good and productive.” EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said talks had “moved on” and that an agreement might be just a matter of days away.
Stournaras is also set to present the outline of the package, which sees about 9 billion euros’ worth of measures being implemented next year and 4.5 billion in 2014. The troika is likely to tell the Eurogroup that these measures will mean Greece will just about wipe out its primary deficit next year and that the target of a 4.5 percent primary surplus for 2014 will only be achieved in 2016. If the ministers do not approve this shift in targets then it is likely that the troika will return to Athens to demand further cuts. This would complicate negotiations and further delay the disbursement of Greece’s next loan tranche.

Meanwhile, ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen dealt another blow to Greek hopes of rolling over the bonds held by the central lender. “We can neither extend the maturities for Greek bonds nor lower the interest rates,” he told Bild newspaper. “Both would be a form of debt relief and so direct financing of the Greek state, which the ECB is not legally allowed to do.” and Greece forms its version of a TBTF bank.... Eurobank and NBG to form banking giant  Deal will merge assets of 178 billion National Bank of Greece announced late on Friday its board’s decision to proceed to a full merger with domestic rival Eurobank Ergasias for the creation of a dominant force in the local market that would be able to survive the challenges of a prolonged recession. The mega-merger planned is set to create a national champion in the industry with combined assets of at least 177.7 billion euros, approaching the country’s gross domestic product. Its loan portfolio will amount to some 110 billion euros and deposits will add up to 90 billion. It will have a total of 1,845 branches abroad and 952 in Greece. “With this proposal, National Bank is speeding up the merger trend in the Greek banking system, creating a credit institution that will be sustainable in the long term and able to respond to the challenges Greece is going through,” stated NBG’s chief executive, Alexandros Tourkolias. In the board meetings held separately at the two banks on Friday it was agreed that the merger process will begin with a share exchange near the current stock prices of the lenders, on a three-to-one ratio, to be followed by an acquisition proposal by National to Eurobank. A press report in the morning had triggered rumors about a merger deal, forcing the Capital Market Commission to suspend trading in the stocks of the two banks for the rest of the day at the Athens bourse. After French group Credit Agricole’s decision to pick Alpha Bank as its preferred buyer for the sale of Greek subsidiary Emporiki Bank, announced on Monday, the other two suitors, National and Eurobank, apparently decided to forge an alliance of some sort that is now set to lead not just to a merger between them but could also include the industry’s other prized asset, Hellenic Postbank (TT). Reports in the Greek media have suggested that NBG and Eurobank have been eyeing TT after failing to land Emporiki, but given that both have small stakes in the state-owned lender, it is near certain that once the two banks merge, they will also buy out TT to create a banking giant that will be healthy enough to require no more than a small amount of extra capital from the recapitalization process. and we shall see how this plays out - Samaras says Greece officially hits the wall by the end of November.... Greek PM: Money Available ‘Till End of November, Democracy at Risk if Gov’t Collapses Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics  Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras hit dramatic tunes about the state finances and the social situation of the country. Speaking to German daily Handelsblatt, Samaras stressed the necessity of the 31-billion-euro bailout tranche saying that Greece has money until the end of November. “Then the cash box is empty,” Samaras said. “Antonis Samaras told a German paper in an interview published on Friday his country could not manage beyond November without the next tranche of international aid and suggested the ECB could help by easing the terms of its Greek debt holdings. “The key is liquidity. That is why the next credit tranche is so important for us,” Samaras told the business daily Handelsblatt. Asked how long Greece could manage without it, he said: “Until the end of November. Then the cash box is empty.” The European Central Bank could help by accepting lower interest rates on its existing Greek debt holdings “or it could approve a rollover when these bonds mature”, he said. “I could also imagine the recapitalization of Greek banks as is being considered for Spain, which would be not accounted for on its state debts but carried out directly via the ESM. That would be a significant relief,” said Samaras.” (Reuters) As for the political and social situation in Greece, Samaras warned of the high unemployment and the rise of neo fascist Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) as “destabilizing”factors. Samaras described Golden Dawn as “extreme-right, one could say fascist, neo-Nazi party.” “Greek democracy is perhaps facing its biggest challenge,» he said and warned that if  the coalition government fails in its task, “chaos awaits” the country, the Greek PM said. “The cohesion of society is at risk, should the reforms fail.”  Due to austerity measures and the dire economic situation, the Greeks “lost more than one third of their living standards within five years, Samaras told Handelsblatt, adding: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel hit the right tune, when she mentioned that her heart bleeds in the face of such hardships,” Samaras said and spoke out an unofficial invitation to Merkel to visit Athens: “She is welcome anytime.”