Post by hurricanemaxi on Feb 14, 2012 9:57:19 GMT -8
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Europe is better prepared for a Greek default than two years ago, jacking up pressure on Greece to hold to its pledges and find the savings needed to win a second bailout.
Euro-area governments will decide “soon” on the new aid program, European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner Olli Rehn said. Finance ministers are due to convene in Brussels tomorrow for their second extraordinary meeting in a week after telling Greek officials to identify additional cuts of 325 million euros ($428 million). The measures are among conditions that must be met by tomorrow for Greece to secure a 130 billion- euro rescue needed to avert financial collapse.
“We want to do everything to help Greece master this crisis,” Schaeuble said in an interview with ZDF television late yesterday. “What we’re experiencing at the moment is much less bad than what may happen to Greece if the attempts to keep Greece in the euro zone failed.” Yet if everything fails, “we’re better prepared than two years ago,” he said.
Germany, the largest contributor to euro-area bailouts, is losing patience with Greece as Europe’s most indebted country threatens to drag the region’s economy into recession more than two years after the sovereign-debt crisis first emerged.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos planned to hold a Cabinet meeting at 4 p.m. Athens time -- an hour later than originally scheduled -- to discuss actions required to qualify for the bailout. The Greek government will cut spending at ministries to find the 325 million euros, the state-run Athens News Agency said, citing spokesman Pantelis Kapsis.
‘Hedging Its Bets’
While Schaeuble’s comments toward Greece display a “strong element of brinkmanship,” the tone is “starkly different” from just a few months ago, Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London, said in an e-mailed comment.
“Germany appears to be hedging its bets: giving Greece a slim chance to stay in the euro zone while preparing the ground for its possible exit,” he said.
Greece’s economy, already reeling from austerity measures demanded by creditors, shrank 6.8 percent in 2011 compared with a 6 percent contraction forecast by the government, statistics published today showed.
Underscoring the contrast with Greece, now in what is predicted to be a fifth year of recession, German investor confidence surged to a 10-month high in February on the back of improved global growth and signs the debt crisis is abating, the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said.
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Euro-area governments will decide “soon” on the new aid program, European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner Olli Rehn said. Finance ministers are due to convene in Brussels tomorrow for their second extraordinary meeting in a week after telling Greek officials to identify additional cuts of 325 million euros ($428 million). The measures are among conditions that must be met by tomorrow for Greece to secure a 130 billion- euro rescue needed to avert financial collapse.
“We want to do everything to help Greece master this crisis,” Schaeuble said in an interview with ZDF television late yesterday. “What we’re experiencing at the moment is much less bad than what may happen to Greece if the attempts to keep Greece in the euro zone failed.” Yet if everything fails, “we’re better prepared than two years ago,” he said.
Germany, the largest contributor to euro-area bailouts, is losing patience with Greece as Europe’s most indebted country threatens to drag the region’s economy into recession more than two years after the sovereign-debt crisis first emerged.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos planned to hold a Cabinet meeting at 4 p.m. Athens time -- an hour later than originally scheduled -- to discuss actions required to qualify for the bailout. The Greek government will cut spending at ministries to find the 325 million euros, the state-run Athens News Agency said, citing spokesman Pantelis Kapsis.
‘Hedging Its Bets’
While Schaeuble’s comments toward Greece display a “strong element of brinkmanship,” the tone is “starkly different” from just a few months ago, Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London, said in an e-mailed comment.
“Germany appears to be hedging its bets: giving Greece a slim chance to stay in the euro zone while preparing the ground for its possible exit,” he said.
Greece’s economy, already reeling from austerity measures demanded by creditors, shrank 6.8 percent in 2011 compared with a 6 percent contraction forecast by the government, statistics published today showed.
Underscoring the contrast with Greece, now in what is predicted to be a fifth year of recession, German investor confidence surged to a 10-month high in February on the back of improved global growth and signs the debt crisis is abating, the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said.
replica rolexes
home medical equipment