Current Greece Bailout Scheme as of March 28 , 2014 - As a general statement , Greece will get just enough money to payoff the latest round of debt to the EFSF and IMF - then will be allowed to wander aimlessly in its Zombie state until the next loan disbursement come due - then it will get just enough to pay that debt off as well.......of course we are soon to reach the end of the line under the current rescue scheme in place for Greece ( end of Q4 2014 ) ...... Which makes the Greece Supreme Court decision ostensibly ruling against bank confiscations quite interesting - assuming the decision is actually allowed to stand .....Meanwhile , the current Greek Government has high confidence regarding its latest reform bill ( greek citizens corn-holed by legislation ) , we shall see if this high confidence is warranted by the end of the weekend..... meanwhile greek auxiliary pensions take a big whack ( thanks Troika and current Greek Government ) .....Greek bill gives rescue fund legal cover for bank capital boosts ( banksters always get taken care of .. ) ..... Just another day in Troikaville -- h/ts Keep Talkin Greece , Zero Hedge , The Slog , Ekathimerini !

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/greek-bailout-update-is-everything-normal-or-not/

GREEK BAILOUT UPDATE: Is everything normal or not?

BY JOHN WARD MARCH 28, 2014 ANGELA MERKEL EC DELAYS GREEK DEFAULT EVANGELOS VENIZELOS FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE OVER GREEK DEBT

NO

There seemed to be some confusion last night as to the point I was making about the new tranche of money being paid to Greece. I’m not surprised, because virtually none of scheduled numbers or dates released previously by the Troika tally with what happened yesterday. Bur officially, it seems to me like this:

1. Greece will not get any of this payment for at least two weeks. Thus the country will be getting €9.2bn in “Q2″, where it is supposed to get only 4.7bn. There was a 5bn funding gap in that quarter: so with a little Greek surplus (1.3bn) that would be about right to avoid a May 21st default.

2. I must assume that Greece already received its Q1 amount, otherwise we would’ve heard the squealing of fat Evangelos at being reduced from three to two lunches a day. But if they didn’t get it, then (a) how did they pay the Q1 debt and (b) why is this new figure neither 4.9 nor 4.2bn?

* As Greece can just about scramble together enough to be still alive on May 22nd, the Sprouts can go into the euro-elections lying through their teeth about Greece being “on target and out of trouble”.

But that still leaves another shortfall and thus default looming on 20th August 2014 – see my original post of January.

If any Greek friends/Sloggers are reading this and they think I’m wrong, do please say. And if your or our MSMs don’t pick up this story, can somebody please nudge them awake, because I’m busy on another story today? Cheers.

JW

and....

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/breaking-greece-to-get-new-e8-5bn-euro-aid-tranche-to-avoid-may-default/

BREAKING: GREECE TO GET NEW €8.5bn EURO AID TRANCHE TO AVOID MAY DEFAULT

BY JOHN WARD MARCH 27, 2014 ANTONIS SAMARAS FULL OF SHIT €8-8.5BN TRANCHE TO AVOID GREEK DEFAULT MERKEL LIED TO GERMAN PEOPLENEW EU RELIEF FOR GREECE GRANTED

US Embassy sources in Athens confirmed to The Slog tonight that a new sum around €8-8.5bnwill be handed over to the Greek Government in the next five weeks to enable it to avoid the May 21st default exclusively predicted here on January 17th this year.

I have no more detail beyond this, and so will stick to these four pertinent observations:

1. Cyprus was raped by the EC last year because of a debt sum just €3.5bn larger than this one.

2. Cyprus got into that situation by showing loyalty to its Greek compatriots being financially repressed by the Troika.

3. The news comes just two months after Antonis Samaras told the Greek people that Greece would “be freed from the EU aid program and begin its recovery in 2014″.

4. As I predicted, Angela Merkel lied to the German People about future bailouts.

If there is anyone out there who still has faith in the eurozoners, europhiles and collaborators, I have but one question:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-27/greek-supreme-court-rules-bank-deposit-confiscation-against-constitution

Greek Supreme Court Rules "Bank Deposit Confiscation" Against The Constitution

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/27/2014 15:22 -0400

• Germany
 
• Greece
 
• International Monetary Fund
• Japan

inShare4

 

While we are sure the governments and their IMF handlers will find a way around such annoyances as the rule of law, the Greek Supreme Court just ruled that the seizure of bank deposits due to debts to the state without previous notice was against the Constitution. We humbly suggest the Ukrainian courts be rapidly brought to a decision on the same ruling, before IMF hands start dipping into pockets.

As Keep Talking Greece explains,

Greece’s Supreme Court ruled that the seizure of bank deposits due to debts to the state without previous notice was against the Constitution. The judges had taken up a debtor’s complaint filed in 2006. The debtor had seen his pension being grabbed from his bank account due to debts to the tax office.

The court ruling is provisional, judges are expecting to take the final decision on a session on May 5th 2014.

But the Supreme Court ruling may influence the current practice of tax authorities to proceed to so-called “electronic seizure of bank accounts” without previous notice.

This measure has been applied since 1.1.2014.

Tax offices and insurance funds are allowed to seize the amount of debt from salary, pensions and rents, provided 1,000 euro will be left in the bank account

More details of the Supreme Court ruling here in Greek

One wonders when the US Supreme Court would take up such a decision?

As a reminder, here is the IMF discussing their wealth tax idea...

“The sharp deterioration of the public finances in many countries has revived interest in a “capital levy”— a one-off tax on private wealth—as an exceptional measure to restore debt sustainability. The appeal is that such a tax, if it is implemented before avoidance is possible and there is a belief that it will never be repeated, does not distort behavior (and may be seen by some as fair).

There have been illustrious supporters, including Pigou, Ricardo, Schumpeter, and—until he changed his mind—Keynes. The conditions for success are strong, but also need to be weighed against the risks of the alternatives, which include repudiating public debt or inflating it away (these, in turn, are a particular form of wealth tax—on bondholders—that also falls on nonresidents).

There is a surprisingly large amount of experience to draw on, as such levies were widely adopted in Europe after World War I and in Germany and Japan after World War II. Reviewed in Eichengreen (1990), this experience suggests that more notable than any loss of credibility was a simple failure to achieve debt reduction, largely because the delay in introduction gave space for extensive avoidance and capital flight—in turn spurring inflation.

The tax rates needed to bring down public debt to precrisis levels, moreover, are sizable: reducing debt ratios to end-2007 levels would require (for a sample of 15 euro area countries) a tax rate of about 10 percent on households with positive net wealth.

News from Greece.......

Greek coalition confident as reform multi-bill goes to Parliament  People line up outside a pharmacy in central Athens that was on duty on Friday. Pharmacists have been on strike for several days and have vowed to continue their action unless the government withdraws a provision for the deregulation of the over-the-counter drug market. A brief debate on the multi-bill of reform measures submitted to Parliament on Friday night will begin ons Saturday before a vote late on Sunday, when the government is expecting all of its MPs to back the legislation and move Greece a step closer to unlocking the next tranche of bailout funding, which could reach as much as 11.9 billion euros. The troika considers the liberalization and other reform measures included in the omnibus bill as prerequisites for Greece to receive further funding and, according to sources, the European Commission’s representative in the triumvirate, Matthias Mors, wrote to the coalition on Friday to remind it that any changes to the legislation could lead to Greece’s recent agreement with its lenders being scrapped. The government has come under pressure from its own MPs and professional groups over a number of provisions in the three articles that make up the multi-bill. However, only minor adjustments have been made, with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras insisting that Greece stands to benefit from passing the bill as it would lead to eurozone finance ministers, who meet in Athens on Tuesday, agreeing to release the next loan installment and then discussing further debt relief. PASOK leader and Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos preached a similar message when he met with Socialist MPs on Friday. He described the multi-bill as “the last agreement before the exit from the crisis.” He also accused SYRIZA of acting as “fifth-columnists” and “sucking up to the troika” because the leftists doubted Greece’s primary surplus and wanted the country’s lenders to do the same. The response from the opposition party was equally forceful. SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said that if his party came to power, it would withdraw all the provisions in the bill, which he described as “barbarous,” and put on trial for “criminal breach of faith” those involved in compiling the legislation. One of the areas Tsipras focused on was a change in legislation that allows the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund to participate in banks’ capital share increases even if the price is lower than what the recapitalization fund paid when it purchased a stake in the lenders last year. “The government has agreed with the troika to give away the banks to foreign funds,” he said in Parliament. There were also complaints from professional groups. Pharmacists, who launched a strike on Wednesday, led the way. The head of their association, Kyriakos Theodosiadis, said they would launch legal action in Greek and European courts against the bill, which removes almost all the restrictions on who can open a pharmacy and where. “They are favoring the supermarket cartel and putting a nail in the pharmacists’ coffin,” he said. Only 50 of some 3,500 pharmacies in Attica opened on Friday, resulting in large queues at the stores that were open.

ekathimerini.com , Friday March 28, 2014 (20:13)  Auxiliary pensions may shrink by up to 25 pct By Christina Kopsini Auxiliary pensions are set for a drastic reduction following the abolition of 24 indirect taxes that raised revenues for social security funds, which is foreseen in the government’s new multi-bill. The remaining 72 indirect taxes for such funds are also set to be revised by the end of the year, as Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis clarified this week, which would inflict a further blow on the pensions old and new pensioners receive. “These contributions will be gathered in one account at the Finance Ministry, which will distribute them according to the needs of each fund. No social security fund structure will be put in danger with the incorporation of all such resources in one account,” the president of the Social Security Foundation (IKA), Rovertos Spyropoulos, said on Friday. “As of January 1, 2014, you will get what you’ve paid for, as there will be an individual share, with no discrimination, while the system of supplementary pensions will be clear and transparent for all workers,” noted Anastasios Papanikolaou, the president of the Single Auxiliary Social Security Fund (ETEA). Although the Labor Ministry officially estimates that the loss of resources will not cost funds any more than 120 million euros, estimates by the Labor Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Labor (INE/GSEE) raise that loss to about 1.7 billion euros and see the reduction to auxiliary pensions at 25 percent within 2014. ekathimerini.com , Friday March 28, 2014 (22:44)  Greek bill gives rescue fund legal cover for bank capital boosts By Lefteris Papadimas & George Georgiopoulos Greek banks that are majority-owned by the country's bank rescue fund HFSF will be allowed to issue new shares to boost their capital at market prices, according to a draft bill that also gives the rescue fund legal cover to see its stakes diluted. The draft legislation obtained by Reuters is part of an omnibus bill on prior actions demanded by the country's international lenders, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, to release the next tranche of bailout loans. The fund currently owns the majority of Greece's four biggest lenders - National Bank, Alpha Bank, Piraeus Bank and Eurobank - after injecting 25 billion euros ($34.35 billion) last summer to recapitalise them in exchange for shares. The draft bill stipulates that the rescue fund's stakes in the banks can be diluted through equity offerings, with the HFSF waiving its rights to new shares issued by the banks. Under the proposed legislation, the HFSF can give its green light to new share offerings by the banks at prices that are lower than those in previous recapitalisations. The move opens the way for the planned capital increase by Greece's third largest lender Eurobank, which needs to cover a 2.945 billion euro capital shortfall that the central bank's stress test revealed this month. Eurobank, 95 percent owned by the HFSF, was recapitalised by selling shares to the fund at 1.54 euros each. Its planned issue of new shares is expected to be priced much lower. Under the draft law, the fund's board can decide on the price of the share offerings based on a fair value evaluation by two independent financial advisers, taking into account prevailing market conditions. The previous law on Greek banks' recapitalisation did not clarify how the rescue fund would act regarding future capital boosts for the lenders. Piraeus Bank on Wednesday became the second Greek lender to successfully complete a 1.75 billion euros share offering to bolster its equity capital and pay back preferred shares held by the state. Peer Alpha Bank closed books on a 1.2 billion euro equity offering on Tuesday. The draft legislation also sets «bail in» clauses for shareholders and subordinated debt holders to minimise state aid in line with EU directives. [Reuters] ekathimerini.com , Friday March 28, 2014 (09:40)  Keep talking Greece items...... 28 MAR tagged: austerity bill, draft bill,Greece, multi-bill, overhaul,provisions, taxation fines changes,vote. trading regulations Draft bill to overhaul Greek trading regulations Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy Dozens of provisions are to overhaul trading regulations in Greece and trigger the anger of milk producers, pharmacists, booksellers, bakers. The changes containing in the 191-page multi draft submitted by the Greek government to the Parliament are one more Troika-imposed precondition for the next bailout installment of some 9 billion euro expected in May. The trading regulations are based on 50 measures proposed by OECD with the alleged aim “to  boost competition and strengthen economy” in the crisis- and austerity-hit country. Main points: - bread will be no longer sold by piece but it will be weighed  in front of the consumer. - milk will be sold in three categories and respectively price ranges. “Fresh milk” tag will be scrapped and new tags like be introduced. - book prices cap will be scrapped except for books of literature. -changes in the pharmacies ownership with the effect that a licensed pharmacist may open a chain. Pharmacies may open in other stores like supermarkets and will have to open six days per week. The draft bill contains also provisions for the: - reduction in fines imposed by tax authorities. - increase of the amount tax offices and insurance funds can seize from bank accounts. The amount of 1,000 euro to be left in the bank account is increased to 1,500 euro. - laid-off civil servants will receive compensation of 15,000 euro. The volume of the draft bill is immense to be handled and posted here, therefore some useful links in Greek are here in zougla.gr and newsit.gr. The voting will take place on Sunday. PS I don’t remember, bakers weighing bread in front of me in Germany but if the OECD and the Troika believe this is important, I have nothing to say in the perspective of saving €0.05 per loaf  I suppose the same range of saving will be valid for milk. As for the pharmacies, no matter where they are located, if they have one or 50 owners, prescription medicine will not be cheaper as it is the health authorities that fix the prices and thus “according to the cheapest prices in three EU-member states.” That means in clear words: if X-drug is sold for €27 in UK, Bulgaria and Romania, Greek health care authority will pay this specific price even if the commercial price in Greece is €35. The same is valid for generics. 28 MAR tagged: Greece, pharmacies,queues, strike Pharmacies strike: Greeks stand long queues waiting up to 3 hours for a drug Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Society Athenians found a new hobby: to stand in incredible long queues outside pharmacies. Not this is not a joke. As pharmacists went on strike last Wednesday, people in need of life saving medicine have no other choice but to turn to the few pharmacies on day or night duty. Especially in Athens and Piraeus the situation is grotesque as one pharmacy on duty can/could/should serve … several thousands of people. Last night I saw a report on TV showing an incredible  long queue outside a pharmacy serving three Athens suburbs with a total of more than 250,000 residents. The camera had captured people of all ages trying to obtain essential medicine for them and their families long after the sun had set down. Average waiting time to reach the counter: three hours. Similar problems have been recorded in the broader Attica area, in Thessaloniki, Tripoli and the island of Crete. Pharmacies in Attica are expected to end strike and return to normal operation on Monday, March 31st 2014. Pharmacists went on open-end strike on March 26th in order to protest the new law that “will ruin them” as they claim. The law foresees among others that pharmacists may open up to four pharmacies even in supermarkets, reduce the profit rate and allow non-prescription drugs been sold in supermarkets. The pharmacists say that allowing the establishment of pharmacy chains will ruin the middle class members of the sector. The government claim that chains will create jobs for thousands of jobless pharmacists. queues video PS everything is claimed to be done for the sake of job creation (lol) where the loan agreements ruined the small enterprises.