Europe is finally giving up on Greece November 3, 2011 WHO will blink first? The Greeks – or the Eurozone? Both have lots to lose from a Greek collapse and withdrawal from the euro; and Georgios Papandreou’s decision to bet everything on a referendum on the bailout package has massively upped the stakes. Until yesterday, it seemed as if Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel would [...]
Merkozy: put up or get out November 2, 2011 GREECE was given an ultimatum last night: vote for austerity or leave the euro. The country will now go to the polls in a referendum on 4 December, but it is not yet clear whether it will vote on its latest €100bn bailout package and the attached conditions, or on membership of the euro itself. [...]
Europe is finally giving up on Greece November 2, 2011 WHO will blink first? The Greeks – or the Eurozone? Both have lots to lose from a Greek collapse and withdrawal from the euro; and Georgios Papandreou’s decision to bet everything on a referendum on the bailout package has massively upped the stakes. Until yesterday, it seemed as if Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel would [...]
Eurozone heads call for Greek decision on euro November 2, 2011 Germany and France have told Greece it should make up its mind by mid-December whether it wants to stay in the Eurozone when Greeks vote on a €130bn (£111bn) bailout. French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Angela Merkel have summoned George Papandreou for crisis talks in Cannes, before a G20 summit of major world economies, [...]
Greece close to meltdown November 1, 2011 THE GREEK government was on the verge of collapse last night as Prime Minister George Papandreou rejected calls for him to cancel the proposed referendum on the Eurozone rescue package. Early this morning, the cabinet agreed to back the referendum. In another shock announcement, the top brass in Greek’s armed forces were sacked en masse [...]
China offers support instead of cash to Eurozone rescue efforts October 30, 2011 GREATER co-operation between China and the Eurozone is a likely result of the crisis, but China cannot be seen as a “saviour” of indebted nations, Chinese news agency Xinhua announced yesterday. The agency, usually seen as the mouthpiece of China’s rulers, said “a prosperous and stable Europe is important to China’s stability and development as [...]
City says Italy is biggest threat to the Eurozone October 30, 2011 ITALY is the biggest threat to the financial security of the Eurozone, according to our poll of influential City figures. Almost half of those polled said they are most worried about the state of the Italian economy, compared to a quarter about Greece and 13 per cent about Spain. Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (pictured) [...]
The EU’s decision process: It’s not rocket science October 30, 2011 AS THE EU’s leaders struggle to reach a comprehensive and credible plan to contain the sovereign debt crisis, there is much they could learn from the scientific world. It’s time our leaders changed their way of thinking, or at least hired a rocket scientist or two to help. From our first physics lessons, we are [...]
Eurozone seeks bailout funds from China October 28, 2011 The head of the eurozone’s bailout fund has launched a bid to convince China to invest in a scheme to help rescue member countries facing debt crises. Klaus Regling said there were no formal negotiations and would be no deal now but met with Chinese leaders and broached the subject. It is thought China may [...]
Markets wait for the devil in the details October 27, 2011 “THE EURO continues to rest on solid fundamentals,” proclaimed the Eurozone statement put out at 4am yesterday morning. Despite surpassing markets’ low expectations and providing some patches of long-desired detail, the statement was met with increasing scepticism by the evening. Leaders agreed to leverage the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) – the region’s bailout fund [...]