The economic massacre in Italy as 134 Retail outlets close every day ... Greece and Cyprus updates - June 19 , 2013 !

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-19/its-massacre-each-day-134-retail-outlets-close-italy

"It's A Massacre" - Each Day 134 Retail Outlets Close In Italy

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/19/2013 08:13 -0400

• Carry Trade
 
• E-Trade
 
• Italy

If anyone is still not convinced that surging stock bourses in Europe are indicative of anything more than central bank liquidity, carry trade allocation and localized asset bubbles, we present a snapshot of what is actually happening on the ground via Italy's Ansa: "It's a massacre," said Confesercenti President Marco Venturi. "Each day 134 shops, restaurants and bars close in recession-hit Italy, retail association Confesercenti said on Wednesday. Confesercenti, which represents small and medium-sized businesses in the retail and tourism sectors, said 224,000 enterprises had closed their shutters since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008.

"Every day five green grocers, four butchers, 42 clothes shops, 43 restaurants and 40 bars and catering business close down".

But who needs commerce when all those newly available day traders can just boot up their E-trade platform and trade their way, along with the trading mascot baby, to untold riches?

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_19/06/2013_504814

Venizelos, Kouvelis discuss ERT closure ahead of crucial meeting with Samaras A meeting between junior coalition partners Evangelos Venizelos, head of socialist PASOK, and Fotis Kouvelis, leader of Democratic Left, was underway on Wednesday afternoon, ahead of a crucial meeting between the two political leaders and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras scheduled for 6 p.m. on the same day. The issue at both meetings was the closure of state broadcaster ERT. According to sources Venizelos and Kouvelis aimed at developing a common position regarding ERT, whose fate remained undetermined following the government’s decision to close it down last week. A subsequent ruling by the country's Council of State stating that the government had the right to close the national radio and television network but not to cut the broadcaster's signal was interpreted in different ways by the political parties. On Tuesday reports suggested that Samaras’s final proposal called for the rehiring of all 2,600 dismissed ERT members of staff on fixed-term contracts that would see them work for two months, the estimated period of transition from ERT to a new, streamlined state broadcaster. Meanwhile, main opposision leader Alexis Tsipras, leader of SYRIZA, was expected to visit ERT’s headquarters in Aghia Paraskevi at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_19/06/2013_504783 Cyprus capital controls must be lifted, says commerce minister Capital controls in Cyprus are doing more damage than a one-time levy on savings and need to be lifted as soon as possible, Commerce, Tourism and Industry Minister George Lakkotrypis said. “We are now at a point where capital controls are hurting more than the haircut itself,” Lakkotrypis said in a June 17 interview in Nicosia. “Small and medium-sized enterprises are closing one after the other and the longer we have controls, the longer we’ll have uncertainty.” Cyprus agreed on March 25 to a 10 billion-euro loan from the euro area and the International Monetary Fund in return for measures including a levy on savings of more than 100,000 euros at Bank of Cyprus Plc and the resolution of second-biggest lender Cyprus Popular Bank Pcl. Those concessions were demanded by creditors in a bid to shrink the country’s banking industry and led to Cyprus imposing the first capital controls in the euro area. [Bloomberg] http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_19/06/2013_504774 Revision of Cypriot bailout terms not likely, eurozone officials The eurozone does not intend to change the terms of Cyprus's bailout as requested by Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in a letter sent to eurozone leaders and its lenders, three senior eurozone officials said on Wednesday. Cyprus secured 10 billion euros in emergency loans from the eurozone's bailout fund in April to avoid bankruptcy. The deal involved the closure of the island's second biggest bank, Laiki, and a fundamental restructuring of Bank of Cyprus. In the letter, which Reuters reported on June 11, Anastasiades did not explicitly ask for more money but indicated that the Cypriot economy could not cope unless the terms of the rescue package are altered. "It is my humble submission that the bail-in was implemented without careful preparation,» Anastasiades says in the letter, which the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. "The heavy burden placed on Cyprus by the restructuring of Greek debt was not taken into consideration when it was Cyprus's turn to seek help." But EU officials said there was no intention to alter the terms of the loans agreed with Cyprus or to supply more funds. The sources suggested Anastasiades was aware no revision was likely, but wanted to send a message to a domestic audience. Asked if the terms of the bailout could be changed, one senior EU policymaker said: «No, not as far as I can see." Eurozone finance ministers will discuss the letter at a meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday. A second official said: «There's no chance we'll revise the terms of the bailout, but we'll discuss it on Thursday." A third confirmed no change was possible in the short-term, but said there could «potentially» be adjustments in the medium term, as was the case of Greece. However, that also depends on eurozone leaders, who will meet on June 27-28. It is the second time Anastasiades has voiced dissatisfaction with the terms of the bailout, which his government negotiated only weeks after being elected. In early April Anastasiades told reporters in Nicosia he would ask European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy for extra assistance given the bad economic situation of the island. EU officials clarified later that the discussion concerned the early use of EU structural funds, money from the EU budget to help development in member states, allotted to Cyprus in the next 7-year budget to help boost growth. [Reuters] http://cyprus-mail.com/marfin-laiki-merger-cost-cyprus-e4b/ Marfin-Laiki merger cost Cyprus €4b By George Psyllides THE ISLAND’S banking system incurred losses of at least €4.0 billion through the merger of Greek lender Marfin Egnatia with the now defunct Laiki Bank, MPs heard yesterday. A Greek MP told the House Ethics Committee that the “scandal” as he described the merger, had been discovered in 2010, by a Greek parliamentary committee looking into another scandal where Vatopedi monks had engaged political help to obtain the rights to a nature reserve in northern Greece and then, with more help, to swap it for valuable state-owned real estate across the country. Vatopedi Monastery in Ayio Oros, Greece The monks were also major players on the stock market and received €109 million in loans from Marfin Bank. The money was in turn used to buy shares in Marfin Investment Group (MIG), controlled by former Laiki strongman Andreas Vgenopoulos (pictured) The Greek parliamentary inquiry alleged serious “conflicts of interest” in how bank loans were issued to finance MIG’s wider activities. “The investigation of the Vatopedi scandal led us to a collateral scandal that extended to Cyprus through Laiki Bank,” the chairman of the Greek inquiry Demetris Tsironis said yesterday. Speaking after the closed-door meeting of the committee, chairman Demetris Syllouris said it was a big scandal. “We estimate that at least €4.0 billion has been lost in this plot,” Syllouris said. Tsironis did not name names but he said there were individuals and companies involved in “this massive scandal.” “I would dare say that the problem in Cyprus would be limited if it wasn’t for this,” he said. Tsironis said he had warned the Greek authorities about the matter and “I imagine that all these things were known.” And audit carried out by the Central Bank of Greece and the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) in March 2009, found that loans worth €732 million had been given by Marfin Egnatia to individuals and companies so that the could buy MIG shares. That was in July 2007. At the same time Marfin Egnatia had given €1.8 billion in loans to ship magnates and business groups linked with MIG. The loans mainly had MIG shares as collateral. AKEL MP Irini Charalambidou said that the Greek Central Bank Governor assured at the time there was nothing wrong with the procedures at Marfin Egnatia. Charalambiou sought once more to blame former Central Bank governor for the debacle, suggesting he could have stopped the merger. “He knew exactly what the situation was at Marfin Egnatia when he approved its conversion to a branch (from a subsidiary),” Charalambidou said. The merger meant the Cypriot government had to include the liabilities of the Greek operations when asked to bail out Laiki in the summer of 2012. However, an investigation by forensics and dispute services firm Alvarez and Marsal, found that there was not much Orphanides could do. “The structure of the regulation and legislation is such that under the Mergers Directive the bank did no require any authorisation from the CBC, this resulted in the bank being able to transfer the assets and liabilities to Cyprus without approval from the CBC,” a findings report said. The CBC was left with one option, the firm said, either to accept the conversion of the Greek subsidiary or force the bank to cease operations in Greece. “Given the desire to maintain the bank’s headquarters in Cyprus and the perceived regulatory benefits, the CBC notified the BOG (Bank of Greece) of the creation of Marfin Popular Bank’s branch in Greece,” A&M said.