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| Europe |
| Merkel: No Greek Aid Pact This Week |
| 2010-03-22 |
| March 22 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel told investors they shouldn't expect this week's European Union summit to agree on any aid package for Greece. EU leaders must not create “illusions' for markets by building expectations for Greek aid, she said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk that aired yesterday. Her remarks came after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and European Commission President Jose Barroso said the EU should spell out its rescue plan at the March 25-26 summit in Brussels. Papandreou is urging EU allies to announce a package that will help him steer the country's borrowing costs lower and avoid the need for a bailout. “Greece isn't insolvent and therefore the question about assistance isn't the one we need to be talking about now,' Merkel said in the interview. “We always talk about the so- called markets that always respond to signals. I think it's important that we don't create illusions.' Merkel last week signaled Greece might have to turn to the International Monetary Fund for any emergency finance, a shift that put her at odds with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other backers of a European solution to the Greek budget crisis. Papandreou, who says current borrowing costs are unsustainable, is looking for help as 20 billion euros of Greek debt mature over the next two months. Speaking to members of his governing Pasok party in Thessaloniki on March 20, he said the EU should place “the gun on the table, so that the speculators can leave us at peace.' |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 in an interview with Deutschlandfunk The Germans never fail to surprise. Trying to imagine George Clinton in lederhosen here. How do you say "Average White Band" in German? |
| Posted by: lex 2010-03-22 06:03 |
| #3 The EU have been playing this silly game with the hedge fund managers for weeks now. It's got them stumped. They don't know whether to short the Euro or not. At the beginning of the week Barroso and EU financial institutions say they are close to reaching agreement on bailing out Greece, causing the managers to pull back, then at the end of the week Merkel tells Greece what they can do, and hopefully Greek-style until it hurts. Then at the beginning of the next week the song and dance starts all over again. In the meantime Greece is stocking up on loans at a lower rate of interest and Papandreou is implementing draconian reforms which he can blame on the Steel Lady Chancellor, Merkel. |
| Posted by: tipper 2010-03-22 04:22 |
| #2 Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-03-22 03:55 |
| #1 And after you are done with the Greece disaster, there is Portugal, and then Spain. And who will foot the bill for these sick financial puppies? And on a similar note, who will foot the bill for California and other states in financial disaster? Especially when we are all tapped out? Congress? the Chinese? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-03-22 01:41 |