http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-10/why-central-planners-are-so-scared-italys-beppe-grillo

This Is Why Central Planners Are So Scared of Italy's Beppe Grillo

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/10/2013 07:26 -0500

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Incredible Video: Beppe Grillo Dissects the Financial System... on 1998

“Whom does the money belong to? Who does its ownership belong to? To the State fine…then to us, we are the State. You know that the State doesn’t exist, it is only a legal entity. WE are the state, then the money is ours…fine. Then let me know one thing. If the money belongs to us…Why…do they lend it to us??”

- Beppe Grillo in 1998

If you really want to know why Beppe Grillo is causing Central Planners throughout the European continent to wet themselves, this video will show you. There’s a real revolution happening in Italy. This guy is the real deal and he understands the heart of the whole issue plaguing the world. All I can say is: WOW.

Average:

http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/are-anti-euro-sentiments-brewing-in.html

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Are anti-euro sentiments brewing in Austria?

Last weekend in Austria, "Team Stronach", a newly-founded political party which aims to abolish the euro in its current form, did quite well in two regional elections, winning 9.8% in the state of Lower Austria and 11.3% in the state of Carinthia.

The party was founded by Austro-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach (pictured) who wantseurozone countries to have their own currencies whose value would fluctuate in line with their fiscal and financial strength (while toying with the idea of keeping the euro as a parallel currency). Although Stronachreacted by saying that "you always expect more", the party "passed the litmus test", according to David Pfarrhofer of the ‘Market’ polling institute.

This year, it's Superwahljahr (Super Election Year) in Austria with two more regional elections coming up in Tirol and Salzburg, and general elections on 29 September, with Stronach stressing that he is "very optimistic". Unsurprisingly given that he named the party after himself, he confirmed he'll be its leading candidate with the aim of becoming Austrian Chancellor. Currently his party is polling at around 10%.

Team Stronach already has a faction in the Austrian Parliament, composed of MPs which defected from other parties to join. This provides the party with some public funding in addition to the reported €26m Stronach himself has contributed. Speculation that he would attract Arnold Schwarzenegger, another successful Austrian expat to his party, has been denied by the latter. Stronach is one of the most prominent business people in Canada, where he emigrated to at the age of 22. His party has been accused of populism but unlike Austria’s established far-right, it is not opposed immigration. Combined with support of around 20% for the far-right FPO party, which supports a Northern euro, around 30% of Austrians seem to support parties which favour an end to the common currency, and unlike in Germany, it seems people are actually willing to vote for parties which explicitly support this objective. Stronach has a solid organisation and apart from shaking up Austrian politics, the signals he's sending out could spill over to that one country which more than any other holds the fate of the euro: Germany.

and Germany and the Dutch people also having doubts ....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-10/germanys-rising-anti-euro-sentiment

Germany's Rising Anti-Euro Sentiment

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/10/2013 10:29 -0500

Germany

Italy

In recent days, FX desk chatter has been of rising concerns over "Germany’s New Anti-Euro Party." 'The Alternative for Germany' party is set to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections in September with a clear goal: "the dissolution of the EUR in favor of national currencies or smaller currency unions." It also demands an end to ESM payments. As evidenced by the recent vote in Italy, voting intentions in Europe are not just ultra-left or ultra-right wing anti-European, but increasingly mainstream."Democracy is eroding. The will of the people regarding (decisions relating to the EUR) is never queried and is not represented in parliament. The government is depriving voters of a voice through disinformation..."Ultimately, as Der Spiegel notes, however, the party's success will likely have more to do with the state of the common currency as the election approaches. Should the crisis flare up, so too could anti-euro sentiment. That sentiment in Germany now has a political home.

Via Der Spiegel,

Anti-euro political parties in Europe in recent years have so far tended to be either well to the right of center or, as evidenced by the recent vote in Italy, anything but staid. But in Germany, change may be afoot. A new party is forming this spring, intent on abandoning European efforts to prop up the common currency. And its founders are a collection of some of the country's top economists and academics.

Named Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany), the group has a clear goal: "the dissolution of the euro in favor of national currencies or smaller currency unions." The party also demands an end to aid payments and the dismantling of the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund.

"Democracy is eroding," reads a statement on its website (German only). "The will of the people regarding (decisions relating to the euro) is never queried and is not represented in parliament. The government is depriving voters of a voice through disinformation, is pressuring constitutional organs, like parliament and the Constitutional Court, and is making far-reaching decisions in committees that have no democratic legitimacy."

The sentiment, of course, is hardly new. Euro-skeptics are everywhere these days, particularly in those southern European countries that have been hit hardest by the crisis that continues to plague the common currency. And even in mainstream parties, concerns about the path on which the EU currently finds itself are common. But in Germany, as elsewhere in northern Europe, the most vocal critique of the euro has tended to come from right-wing populist parties.

Prominent Supporters

Alternative for Germany appears to be different, though it has yet to produce a party manifesto. Its impressive list of prominent supporters includes a large number of conservative and economically liberal university professors. The most notable name on the list is Hans-Olaf Henkel, the former president of the Federation of German Industries, but it also includes such economists as Joachim Starbatty and Wilhelm Hankel, who were part of the group that challenged Greek bailout aid at Germany's Constitutional Court.

Main initiator Bernd Lucke, a professor of macro-economics from Hamburg, was a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats for 33 years before leaving the party in 2011 as a result of euro bailout efforts."The current, so-called rescue policies are exclusively focused on short-term interests, primarily those of the banks,"Lucke told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this week.

Alternative for Germany has not yet formally become a political party, though it reportedly plans to do so in the middle of April. Even then, however, it is not yet certain that the party will be able to collect the requisite number of signatures in time to be included on the ballot in general elections this autumn -- a minimum of 2,000 in each of Germany's 16 states or 0.1 percent of each state's population, whichever is lower. "We will make that decision based on the support we receive," Lucke told the FAZ. "But we have been overwhelmed by the public's reaction thus far."

A Political Home

Even if the party does get on the ballot, it remains unclear whether it will attract significant support. So far, it remains a single-issue party -- and even on that single issue there is a lack of clear consensus on exactly how to proceed.

Still, with concern in Germany growing that the country has become the de-facto paymaster for the rest of the euro zone, Alternative for Germany could attract a fair number of protest votes from frustrated conservatives.Judging by the increasing difficulty Merkel has faced in pushing euro bailout packages through parliament in Berlin over the last 15 months, the level of frustration on the center-right could be growing. Indeed, Lucke has said that he is in touch with a handful of euro-skeptic parliamentarians from the Free Democrats, Merkel's business-friendly junior coalition partner.

Ultimately, however, the party's success will likely have more to do with the state of the common currency as the election approaches. Should the crisis flare up, so too could anti-euro sentiment. That sentiment in Germany now has a political home.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/03/not-enough-fingers-to-contain-leak-in.html

Saturday, March 09, 2013 6:31 PM

Not Enough Fingers to Contain the Leak in the Dike

As I have repeatedly stated "Eventually, Will Come a Time When .... "a populist office-seeker will stand before the voters, hold up a copy of the EU treaty and (correctly) declare all the "bail out" debt foisted on their country to be null and void. That person will be elected."

Predicting when and where that happens is not easy. We have been following Greece, Spain, and Italy.

Could it be another country that gets the ball rolling? Actually, the most likely occurrence will be in a country that few are watching.

Please consider Dutch support EU referendum

Dutch lawmakers have been forced to debate a referendum on any further transfers of power to the EU after a citizens’ petition demanding a plebiscite garnered 40,000 signatures in two weeks.

Although parliament is not obliged to follow through with legislation, the move underlines the surge euroscepticism in one of the EU’s founding members, which could pose an obstacle to any further integration needed to bolster the eurozone.

Obligations? What Obligations?

Politicians are never under "obligation" to do anything. However, they are subject to voter backlash. In gerrymandered legislative districts in the US, voters do not have much of a chance.

Elsewhere, that is not necessarily the case as shown by the massive rise of support for comedian Beppe Grillo whose Five Star Movement is now the largest political party in Italy.

Justified Backlash

I am not the only one to note the justified backlash against the nannycrats. Pater Tenebrarum at the Acting Man Blog says a "storm is Brewing" in his article called Tone-Deaf Eurocrats

What makes Grillo suspect to the eurocratic elites is that he is an anti-establishment figure; that he doesn't regard euro membership as sacrosanct, and intends to increase the level of direct democracy in Italy. This is not to say that the man's economic policy ideas are necessarily better than what has been on tap so far, as he has a number of ideas that strike one as steeped in a kind of naïve romantic socialism.

The problem the EU faces is however that one cannot simply continue to ignore the increasing political backlash across Europe. In fact, Grillo's ascendance appears a relatively small problem compared to what could possibly happen if a few more years with no light at the end of the tunnel pass. Desperate people will eventually flock to anyone who promises them to shake off the yoke of EU diktats, and that could well lead to the baby being thrown out with the bathwater.

The central problem is then how exactly to achieve economic growth, and it can certainly not be achieved by deficit spending or manipulation of the money supply. There can be only one way: radical pro free market reform. Rehn and his colleagues in the eurocracy in the broader sense (i.e., including the national political leaders) must be prepared to surrender control and let the market economy work in as unhampered a manner as possible. The questions they should be asking themselves are: 'How can we do less? What regulations should be dismantled first? Which taxes and what spending can we cut as quickly as possible? What is the quickest way of replacing the the central bank directed banking cartel with free banking?'

Everything else is essentially a waste of time and effort, even if it should prove possible to kick the can down the road repeatedly. The current course is certainly fated to end in tears – eventually the political backlash will produce chaos, and usually chaos doesn't end well. As the protesters in Portugal have correctly intuited, it only tends to bring even worse snake oil sellers to power.

No Light at the End of the Tunnel

Pater wonders what might happen in a "few more years with no light at the end of the tunnel".

I rather doubt we get that far, and I am rather certain Pater would agree. Regardless, with all eyes now focused on Spain and Italy (way too late), it's time to move the spotlight to France and the Netherlands.

Eventually this mess is likely to blow sky high in multiple places at once. There are not enough fingers to contain the leak in this dike.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Greece and France rule out more austerity....

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/03/france-postpones-austerity-and-deficit.html

Sunday, March 10, 2013 4:47 PM

France Postpones Austerity and Deficit Targets for Rest of 2013

The following Eurostat chart shows that government spending in France accounting for close to 56% of GDP.

click on chart for sharper image

The above chart shows it's silly to propose France has been involved in any sort of genuine austerity program, yet that is precisely what the French Minister of the Budget suggests.

El Economista reports France defers further budget measures because of their recessionary impact.

The French Minister of Budget, Jérôme Cahuzac, acknowledged that new taxes or spending cuts have a recessionary effect in the short term and "Given the weakness of the current situation, further efforts are ruled ask the French in 2013," said Cahuzac in an interview published by Le Journal du Dimanche.

The 3% target was initially set for 2013, but the French government officially decided to postpone further action on account of the poor economic outlook.

Hollande stressed his project to achieve "zero deficit" by the end of his term in 2017, is still in place and that France's actions are "not to please the European Commission or the rating agencies, but to regain our sovereignty, alienated by markets in recent years."

Deficit Targets Impossible

France's budget deficit is currently 3.7% of GDP. Recall that budget deficits exceeding 3% is over treaty limits.

With Hollande at the Helm, any rational-thinking person understands the odds Hollande reduces the French budget deficit to zero by 2017 is roughly 0%.

Mired in a deep as well as deepening recession, France will not even reach its 3% target by the now revised 2014 date.

Hollande's statement that actions are needed "to regain our sovereignty, alienated by markets in recent years" qualifies as the joke of the day. The markets did not alienate France, but Hollande's ridiculous programs surely did.

The gig will be up as soon as the bond market targets France in a serious way.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

http://www.france24.com/en/20130309-greek-pm-says-no-more-austerity

Greek PM says no more austerity

Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is pictured in Doha, on January 29, 2013. Samaras has promised his recession-weary nation that there would be "no more austerity measures" as international creditors prolonged an audit of crisis reforms.

AFP - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday promised his recession-weary nation that there would be "no more austerity measures" as international creditors prolonged an audit of crisis reforms.
"There will be no more austerity measures," Samaras said in a televised speech to his conservative party's political committee.
"And as soon as growth sets in, relief measures will slowly begin," Samaras said.
But he noted that Greece's ailing economy was "out of intensive care, not out of the hospital."
Representatives from the so-called troika of Greece's creditors -- the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- are currently reviewing the steps Greece has taken to meet its multi-billion bailout obligations.
Thorny issues that Athens still needs to address include shrinking the number of jobs in the public sector, speed up privatisation plans and recapitalise four of its main banks.
The auditors have decided to extend their stay by another week and a scheduled meeting with the PM on Thursday was scrapped.
But Samaras on Saturday denied there was a stalemate in talks.
"There is discussion over certain things. I would not call it a hitch, mainly a discussion over how to apply agreed (measures)," he told financial weekly Axia in an interview.
Under the bailout conditions adopted last year, Greece needs to cut public sector workers by 25,000 in 2013 and a total of 150,000 by the end of 2015.
The job cuts have sparked friction with Samaras' junior coalition partner Fotis Kouvelis, head of the moderate Democratic Left party, who is citing Greece's soaring unemployment rate.
Facing a sixth consecutive year of recession, the heavily-indebted country has been relying on international rescue packages to avoid bankruptcy.
A return to growth initially foreseen for 2012 is now not expected before 2014.
Since 2010, the EU and the IMF have committed 240 billion euros ($314 billion) overall in rescue loans to Greece.
The next payment to Greece, of 2.8 billion euros, is due at the end of March.

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=10037

A Dutch citizens’ campaign to make it mandatory to hold a referendum on any new transfer of powers to the EU is on the verge of reaching the 40,000 signatures necessary to force a debate in the Dutch Parliament on the issue. A new Maurice de Hond poll shows that 64% of respondents back the objective of the campaign.

Burgerforum-eu.nl Maurice de Hond poll

March 3, 2013

Gallup Poll: 64% want referendum on power transfer!

( download )

Maurice Dog: 64% Dutch Population Will EU Referendum

See attachment: the results of the poll by Maurice de Hond. Poll was commissioned by the BurgerforumEU done.

64% of the Dutch population wants a referendum on the further transfer of powers to the EU.According to a study published today opinion of Maurice Dog. Interestingly, it includes support for an EU referendum especially at the grassroots of the VVD (64%) and that of 50plus (82%) is large. Very large support from voters of the PVV and SP respectively 99% and 85%. When the Labour Party wants 60% of an EU referendum.

Even more striking is that the question whether it should be binding or advisory referendum 57% of the population chooses binding. When Labour supporters, the support for this at 52% and the VVD at 57%. Again scoring the traditionally euro-skeptic party PVV and SP high with 88% and 79%. When 50plus find even 89% of the respondents that the Government recognized the outcome of a referendum on Europe should honor.

'Remarkable'

Also shows that only 31% of the supporters of D66 wants a referendum. And less than 68% of the surveyed prefer D'66ers also an advisory referendum (which the Government may lay down beside her) rather than a binding referendum. "That is remarkable when you consider that D66 ever created to referendums in the Netherlands as possible," said Alexander Sassen of Elsloo, co-founder of the Civic Union that on the internet a successful petition for a new EU referendum has begun.

'Morally bound'

"The Dutch Constitution has no binding referendum. The results of the examination of the Dog, however, lay an enormous pressure on politicians to agree to a referendum and its result as morally bound to interpret. "

"Ignore previous referendum outcome was fatal mistake '

In 2005 the Dutch population votes on the European Constitution. More than 61% voted against time. Nevertheless, the Court ratified the Treaty of Lisbon that even according to proponents of the Constitution differs only cosmetically. The steps that have since been put to go much further than where the Netherlands in 2005, 'no' said. But in the eurozone's economic worse than outside and so far seems no measure to save the euro to save. "The confidence that politicians need to get out of the crisis has been undermined by failing measures and hindsight fatal decision to ignore the referendum results."

Civic Union was recently founded by including Ewald Engelen, Joost Niemöller and Thierry Baudet. You can petition for a new EU referendum found on www.burgerforum-eu.nl

Catharsis Ours

Sunday, March 10, 2013