Angela Merkel casts doubt on saving Greece from financial meltdown

[dipsydoodle]

Angela Merkel has cast doubt for the first time on Europe's chances of saving Greece from financial meltdown and sovereign default, conceding that Europe's first ever multibillion bailout coupled with savage austerity was not working after two years of crisis that has brought the single currency to the brink of unravelling.

In an interview with the Guardian and five other leading European newspapers, the German chancellor also insisted – against widespread resistance elsewhere in the eurozone and in the UK – that the European court of justice (ECJ) be empowered to police the public spending and budget policies of the 17 countries in the euro.

She also called for the eventual creation of a European political union, with many more national powers ceded to a central government, a strengthened bicameral European parliament, and the ECJ assuming the role of Europe's supreme court.

Days before the latest crucial EU summit, which – at Merkel's insistence and evoking scant enthusiasm elsewhere – is to finalise an international treaty between eurozone governments entrenching German-style fiscal and budgetary rigour in all single currency countries, the chancellor admitted to having doubts about the strategy she has pursued throughout the crisis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/25/angela-merkel-greece-financial-meltdown?intcmp=122

[ladjf]

1. She seems to alternate between yes, we can do it and no, we can't do it.

Each time she comes out with a statement either negative or positive,the international stock
respond like trained horses. "Here we go down." of "Here we go up.". With that kind of predictability, somebody is making some big bucks on following those signals.

[Turbineguy]

2. Since the Greeks aren't helping,

she'll probably be right.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Greek Debt Talks to Resume as Policy Makers Squabble

Talks on a debt swap to avert a Greek default resume today as international policy makers squabble over the mounting cost of the rescue.

Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre, negotiating on behalf of private creditors, return to Athens after European finance ministers insisted bondholders take bigger losses on their Greek debt. The International Monetary Fund further roiled the discussions by suggesting that public holders of Greek bonds might also have to increase support.

The parties are groping for a solution three months after private bondholders agreed with European officials to implement a 50 percent cut in the face value of more than 200 billion euros ($262 billion) of debt by voluntarily swapping bonds for new securities. Since then, an economic contraction that exceeded estimates has made the goal of cutting Greece’s debt to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 harder. An accord is tied to a second bailout for the country, which faces a 14.5 billion-euro bond payment on March 20.

“The cost of postponing a solution is extremely high for Europe, but especially for the future of the euro,” said Giovanni Bossi, chief executive officer of Banca Ifis SpA, an Italian financial-services company that doesn’t own Greek debt. “The parties are very close to a deal. It’s time to close.”

Jan 26, 2012 9:15 AM GMT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-25/greek-debt-talks-to-resume-in-athens-as-policy-makers-squabble-on-haircut.html

[DCBob]

4. I thnk her comments were more for political consumption back home than anything.

Also sends a signal to the Greeks and the negotiators that the Germans have a limit to what they are willing to do. There will be deal of some sort in the end. There is no other acceptable option.

[DCBob]

5. Merkel yesterday: "I’m absolutely convinced that we will be able to master this crisis”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-25/merkel-makes-davos-appeal-to-investors-for-time-to-solve-europe-s-crisis.html

[dipsydoodle]

6. I think what she says

depends on with whom she is speaking.