Building the state of Europe: it's a criminal tyranny!

"Here is my Saturday Essay in the Irish Daily Mail. It is a lengthy piece, but then in the countries caught in the eurozone, interest in what is happening in Cyprus is intense. British readers can be happy they are not trapped in the single currency. But they are still trapped in the EU...which is why they may want to read on."

Mail Online: The New Soviet Union: Cyprus shows how the EU destroys democracy

24 March 2013
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EP chair sells values to Islam -

Here we are at last. As Michele Bachmann has pointed out, a ban on the critique of Islam has been years in the making. Of course it involves the sell out of Liberty's highest values, but so be it in a good cause: a compromise with evil - video

Egypt Independent: "Arab League eyes blasphemy bill, Syria solution"
WeaselZippers: "Arab League, OIC And European Union Working On International Law To Ban Offending Islam…"
Jihad Watch: "EU Parliament President denounces attempts to ridicule Islam"

Al Arabiya: "EU Parliament President : For us relations with GCC of highest importance"

A parliamentary delegation from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) met here Wednesday with the President of the European Parliament, Marin Schulz (...) >>>

Sep 19, 2012
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The euro at the root of the crisis -

The World Bank: "The Crisis in the Euro Zone: Did the Euro Contribute to the Evolution of the Crisis?"

The simmering sovereign debt crisis in the Euro Zone represents a looming threat to the recovery of the world economy and could lead to a renewed global financial crisis. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the root causes of the crisis in Europe and assess the extent to which it was driven by the global financial crisis and by factors internal to Europe, notably the adoption of the common currency. (...) >>>

Sep. 1, 2012
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Will Germans buy Draghi's occasion? -

While the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe is pondering the legality of the #ESM (verdict Sept. 12) the ECB is  in crisis mode! In an effort to sell the Germans unconventional remedies (i.e. LTRO3 #Ctrl+Print and the buying of worthless sovereign Med bonds) Mario Draghi has been delivering his sales pitch in the German paper Die Zeit.

Milton Friedman explains why the euro is bound to die: "Friedman argued that, in fact, the Euro would not be economically successful because Europe lacked sufficient economic freedom:

“A flexible exchange rate would enable each of them to have the appropriate monetary policy. With a unified currency, they cannot. The alternative adjustment mechanisms are changes in internal prices and wages, movement of people and of capital. These are severely limited by differences in culture and by extensive government regulations, differing from country to country. If the residual flexibility is enough, or if the existence of the euro induces a major increase in flexibility, the euro will prosper. If not, as I fear is likely to be the case, over time, as the members of the euro experience a flow of asynchronous shocks, economic difficulties will emerge. Different governments will be subject to very different political pressures and these are bound to create political conflict, from which the European Central Bank cannot escape.”

Business Insider: "Mario Draghi Makes His Sales Pitch To Germany"

Mario Draghi has published the following piece titled: The future of the euro: stability through change in German newspaper Die Ziet. It's not the most technical discussion of what will happen next in Europe, but it does offer a very good big picture take on the direction Euro is moving, and why. (...) The gist is this: Europe does not need to become a total "United States of Europe" in order to survive, but deep structural flaws have been exposed, and it's in Germany's interest for the EMU to pursue more integration in the fiscal, political, and economic realms. ( ...) >>>

Aug. 29, 2012
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Karlsruhe sticking it to the europhiles -

The German Constitutional Court could delay the #ESM by as much as months! Put that in your euro pipe and smoke it -

Spiegel: "Court May Take Longer to Rule on Euro Measures"

The German Constitutional Court may take several months, rather than the expected three weeks, to decide on a request that it issue a temporary injunction blocking measures to rescue the euro. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble urged the court to hurry up Tuesday, warning that a delay could lead to a further market turbulence. (...) >>>

July 10, 2012
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Welcome to central planning hell! #ECB pondering Negative Interest Rate Policy -

Zerohedge: "Europe's "Monetary Twilight Zone" Neutron Bomb: NIRP"

Just because ZIRP is so 2009 (and will be until the end of central planning as the Fed can not afford to hike rates ever again), the ECB is now contemplating something far more drastic: charging depositors for the privilege of holding money. Enter NIRP, aka Negative Interest Rate Policy. Bloomberg reports that "European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is contemplating taking interest rates into a twilight zone shunned by the Federal Reserve. while cutting ECB rates may boost confidence, stimulate lending and foster growth, it could also involve reducing the bank’s deposit rate to zero or even lower. Once an obstacle for policy makers because it risks hurting the money markets they’re trying to revive, cutting the deposit rate from 0.25 percent is no longer a taboo, two euro-area central bank officials said on June 15... (...) >>>

June 27, 2012
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Must read, cutting through the clutter article by Mark Grant. It's the debt, stupid! -

Zerohedge: "The World Is Flat And Other Tales From Spain"

(...) The EU notion of ring walls did absolutely nothing, as I long ago said it would not, because the economic decline happens from within and not from without. The EU attempted and failed to protect itself from a threat that did not really exist because economic deterioration happens because of fiscal and monetary policy and not real or perceived threats from real or perceived bond vigilantes. A coral may protect the horses from the wolves but it does nothing to keep the horses from getting sick and the horses are most assuredly sick. (...) >>>

June 11, 2012
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The oligarchs' 'grand plan' -

While @HelenaJacobs is signalling mass unemployment, destroyed villages and basic food shortages from earth quake stricken Italy - a situation that could last for months and which obviously will derail Mario Monti's reform plans in a considerable way - Europe is caught in a pincer. The game works like this: Germany is pushing for austerity and sound money policy as the rest of Europe is calling for print-tax-spend; Germany resists but compromizes: Berlin is willing to concede on the condition more national powers are tranfered to Brussels. This is how it works: those who want to save their national sovreignty don't stand a chance. Watch them play -

FoxNews: "Germany signals it may give ground on eurozone crisis plan"

Germany is sending strong signals that it would eventually be willing to lift its objections to ideas such as common eurozone bonds or mutual support for European banks if other European governments were to agree to transfer further powers to Europe.

If embraced, the move would deepen in fundamental ways Europe's political and fiscal union and represent one of the boldest steps taken by the bloc since the euro was launched. Germany has never before been willing to discuss the conditions it believes necessary to move toward assuming common risks within the eurozone. Now, although the end may be a long way off, it appears willing to discuss those conditions. (...) >>>

June 4, 2012
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Another coup, the banking union -

In the latest news: George SoroS sees window of 3 months for Germany to get its act together.+ Cyprus is now ready for a bailout and Spain is urging full fiscal and budgetery union. But that't not all. EU itself is ready for another power grab: the banking union -

Pomoland: "EUSSR: Banking Union, Another Power Grab in de Making"

(...) There are plans in Europe right now - perhaps as an experiment to be implemented globally at some stage - to bring the banks together under EU regulation. And a nice, innocent sounding label to go with it: the banking union *awwww* #cute!
Nicolas Veron, a fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels - a incubator of ideas for the EUSSR to usurp the nation state - says: "If you have more centralized decision-making for the whole bank restructuring agenda throughout Europe, then you can be tougher because you get a hold of the entire branch." *you bet yah!* (...) Veron says quicker help is needed (...) >>>

June 3, 2012
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Greek bailout = bank bailout -

Mainstream to Spain: take the bailout, take the bailout! and, eh, oh, Europe is about to implode...

Zerohedge: "Scandal: Greece To Receive "Negative" Cash From "Second Bailout" As It Funds Insolvent European Banks"

(...) It turns out that not only will Greece not see a single penny from the Second Greek bailout, whose entire Use of Proceeds will be limited to funding debt interest and maturity payments, but the country will actually have to fund said escrow! You read that right: the Greek bailout #2 is nothing but a Greek-funded bailout of Europe's insolvent banks... and the Greek constitution is about to be changed to reflect this! (...) >>>

May 30, 2012
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Spain, the 4th domino down -

Update! ECB's Refusal To Play Ball Means Spain Has To Foot A €350 Billion Bailout Bill Alone

Yanis Varoufakis: "It is (un)official (but true): Spain is the fourth fallen Eurozone member-state"

(...) Europe allows Spain to issue fresh public debt that it passes on to Spanish banks (instead of money) in exchange for shares. Then, the banks will post this new public debt to the ECB as collateral in exchange for the cash that will keep the Spanish banks’ ATMs going. The end result will be, of course, that Spanish debt will increase and the banks will remain in a zombified state.

Compare and contrast this to what is happening (a) in Greece and Ireland (countries are officially ‘fallen’) and (b) in the case of Italian banks such as Unicredit. (...) >>>

May 29, 2012
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Sure enough, Angela under siege - Ward calculates Germany will leave the Euro zone before Greece does -

Bloomberg: "Merkel May Be Persuaded on Euro Debt-Sharing Compromise"

Chancellor Angela Merkel left the door open to a compromise on debt sharing in the euro area as Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said he can help bring Germany around to acting in Europe’s “common good.” Merkel’s veto on allowing Germany to underwrite joint debt issuance in the 17-nation euro region is under fire from her international partners as well as the domestic opposition. While she refused to back joint euro-area bonds at a Brussels summit on May 23, Germany’s opposition parties wrung a concession from the chancellor on her return to Berlin yesterday to reconsider a separate proposal on common liability for sovereign debt. (...) >>>

May 25, 2012
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The secret inflation leak, ELA -

The next round in the euro kerfuffle is the issue of euro bonds. Pres. Hollande came to power on that platform. Germany is dead against. It's the surest way to the 'transfer union', or in other words, full budget integration. So it's another coup attempt. Nice topic to get us through summer -  On Zerohedge:

- "Eurobonds - Nationalism Meets Federalism"
- "Austria Joins Germany In Opposing Euro Bonds"

Oh, and eh...the Spanish banks need a cash injection worth 76 billion euros. Raid the ESM, says the OICD! And it has transpired that Greece's banks are secretly being propped up by as much as 100 billion euros through the ECB's ELA instrument. While the LTRO's and bond buying operations are an almost closed circuit, ELA money does go straight into the economic system causing inflation -

May 22, 2012
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Well, wadda ya know...! -

No sooner had it become obvious that the extreme Left Syriza party will turn the second instalment of the Greek elections on June 17 into a formal exit of the EU or the troika blinks and enters into a game of bazari...that is unless it's a canard *LOL* -

Zerohedge: "Europe Blinks: Troika Willing To Change Terms Of Greek Bailout Deal"

IMF, EU, ECB Open to Changes in Greek Aid Deal, Real News Says (...) >>>

May 12, 2012
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Greece, what's next -

Check also Athens News live blogs for updates -

Zerohedge: "Greece Next Next Steps"

With the Greek tempest-in-a-teapot about to hit Whale-size, as Tsipras says he will not join the coalition and Venizelos says that Syriza's participation is a prerequisite (via Bloomberg), it seems now would be an opportune time to look forward (not backward at the GGB2s dropping below EUR17 for the first time ever!). As we were among the first to state that there would be a second (if not more) election in Greece, we look at the schedule of events in Europe over the next few weeks (including the payments due on the PSI holdout bonds), and discuss the scenarios and consequences of a Greek exit (for both Greece living without Euro support and the Euro-zone coping with a Lehman-event). (...) >>>

May 11, 2012
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And the cabal goes marching on -

Super Sunday for Europe! General elections in Greece, presidential elections in France and local elections in Germany and Italy. The result has the potential to change the history of the euro zone. Will Hollande make a giant U turn after he's elected, will the Greeks throw out the mainstream, will Merkel and Monti's position be strengthened or weakened? In the meantime the Euro cabal is steam rollering on -

EUObserver: "Draghi: euro countries to lose even more sovereignty"

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi
as urged eurozone leaders to come up with a 10-year target for the common currency, saying they should accept more transfer of powers if they truly want a fiscal union. Held exceptionally in Barcelona instead of the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, the monthly meeting of eurozone's central bank governing council on Thursday (3 May) was an opportunity for Draghi to explain what he meant last week when he said a "growth compact" is needed along with the deficit-cutting measures taken by most governments. "There is absolutely no contradiction between a growth compact and a fiscal compact," the Italian banker said in reference to the treaty on fiscal discipline signed in March by 25 EU leaders. Draghi himself had earlier coined the "fiscal compact" moniker. (...) >>>

May 6, 2012
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Reuters: "Netherlands political crisis casts cloud on euro zone"

Prime Minister Mark Rutte - Crisis in the euro zone -
More on the EZ crises on Telegraph -

The Netherlands, a core euro zone member, was drawn into Europe's debt crisis at the weekend when the government failed to agree on budget cuts, making elections almost unavoidable and casting doubt on its support for future euro zone measures.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose centre-right coalition has been in power since October 2010, said on Saturday that crucial talks on budget cuts had collapsed after his ally Geert Wilders refused to do a deal, and that new elections were inevitable. In the short term, the government must seek support for budget cuts from the opposition parties. (...) >>>

Apr. 22, 2012
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Plans under way to bring Turkey in under the radar. The European Court of Justice meanwhile is doing its part in the islamization of Europa -

In separate news the past weeks (so something must be in the works) -

The Slog: "EXCLUSIVE: TURKS TO GET SAME RIGHTS IN EUROPE’S ECONOMY AS EU RESIDENTS"

Commission decision taken last week
Brussels bringing Turkey into EU under the radar
Detailed plans to extend the same rights to Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Israel

The Slog has obtained sight of an official Brussels Commission document which, while not confidential, has not as far as I can tell been the subject of MSM coverage, or indeed any vote at all among MEPs. Although dated March 30th 2012 as a ‘proposal for a decision’, I can reveal that the decision has been approved and is already going ahead. It is to grant Turkish citizens the same residency and labour rights in Europe as existing EU citizens. (...) >>>

Apr 16, 2012
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A new coup under way in Athens? -

The Slog: "GREECE EXCLUSIVE: Electoral stalemate brings new Troika pressure to install their man"

Sources in Athens were convinced this afternoon that elements within the EU/IMF/Berlin Troika were behind a flood of media articles in Greece over the last two days concerning the probable need for a ‘compromise’ candidate for Prime Minister in the likely event of a dead-heat election on May 6th. The emerging name is that of New Democracy Vice-President Stavros Dimas (above)…a former Wall Street banker and EU Commissioner. New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras is now widely felt in Greece to be unlikely to become Prime Minister. News reports have suggested that the opposition PASOK Socialists will demand an alternate leader – Stavros Dimas: a very conveniently Troika-friendly choice. “This is partly the work of Evangelo Venizelos (...) >>>

Apr 16, 2012
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Ela! (emergency liquidity assistance) -

In other news from the #EUSSR: after the Empire deposed the Greek PM Papandreou after he proposed a referendum, a government of bankster sockpuppets was uinstalled. But the Emperors didn't reckon with persistent Greek patriottism. There's a parallel government in place under the supervision of Gauleiter Reichenbach! Who knew!

The Europarliament in its sheer wisdom meanwhile has adopted a resolution today saying the Dutch government should condemn a Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) website which invites complaints against citizens from Central and Eastern Europe living in the Netherlands, because it openly incites hatred and discrimination. They delete the borders, but when entire countries are engulfed by their policies, these are morally condemned and called to order in the best tradition of the #EUSSR "The site goes against the fundamental European values of human dignity, freedom, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights and is an "ill-intentioned initiative" aimed at creating divisions within the society and obtaining political gains".

Europe is waking up to the fact that 1. national central banks print money under the ELA program (Emergency Liquidity Assistance); 2. at some stage the new money will have to be taken out of circulation ('burnt') if it's not to trigger hyper inflation! Read these two revelations -

- The Slodge: "BANK OF GREECE ‘PRINTING ITS OWN EUROS’ SAYS BELGIAN ECONOMIST"
- Naked Capitalism: "Philip Pilkington: The Irish Begin to Wake Up to the Fact That They are Repaying Money That is Then Burned"

Mar 15, 2012
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Mario Draghi, the 1 trillion euro man -

Zerohedge: "Mario Draghi Is Becoming Germany's Most Hated Man"

Back in September, before the transition from then ECB head J.C. Trichet to current Goldman plant and uber printer Mario Draghi we asked whether "Trichet will disgrace his already discredited central banker career by pushing a rate cut before he is swept out of the corner office by Mario Draghi, or will the former Goldmanite Italian become the most hated man in Germany soon, after he proceeds to ease, even as Germany still experiences Chinese inflationary re-exports. The answer will be all too clear in just a few months." Sure enough, following a whopping €1 trillion in incremental liquidity released by the ECB in the three shorts months since Draghi's ascension on November 1, all under the guise that the ECB is not printing when it most certainly is, albeit "hidden" by the idiotic claim that it accepts collateral for said printing (what collateral - Italian and Spanish bonds, which will become worthless the second even more printing is required in a few short months? (...) >>>

Mar 1, 2012
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Raid on the Greek gold -

Zerohedge: "Projected PIIGS Pillage: 3233.5 Tons Of Gold To Be Confiscated By Insolvent European Banks"

While hardly discussed broadly in the mainstream media, the top news of the past 24 hours without doubt is that in addition to losing its fiscal sovereignty, and numerous other things, the Greek population is about to lose its gold in a perfectly legitimate fashion, following amendments to the country's constitution by unelected banker technocrats, who will make it legal for Greek creditors - read insolvent European banks - to plunder the Greek gold which at last check amounts to 111.6 tonnes according to the WGC. And so we come full circle to what the ultimate goal of banker intervention in the European periphery is - nothing short of full gold confiscation. So just how much gold will be pillaged by the banker oligarchy (it is amusing how many websites believe said gold is sacrosanct by regional national banks, and thus the EUR is such a stronger currency as it has all this 'gold backing' - hint: it doesn't, as all the gold is about to be transferred to non-extradition countries)? (...) >>>

Feb. 23, 2012
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High treason on Prodi's watch -

The Daily Bell: "EU's Prodi Admits Leaders Knew Euro Would Cause Ruin but Hoped Political Union Would Follow"

The Flowers that Launched the Euro ... To mark the anniversary of the arrival of the euro in the form of notes and coins, euronews spoke with Romano Prodi, who in 2002 was President of the European Commission .... Prodi: "Well, the difficult moments were predictable. When we created the euro, my objection, as an economist (and I talked about it with Kohl and with all the heads of government) was: how can we have a common currency without shared financial, economical and political pillars? The wise answer was: for the moment we've made this leap forward. The rest will follow ... Then instead came the Europe of fear: fear of China, fear of immigrants, fear of globalisation. So it was clear that this crisis would arrive. But the euro is so important, it's so convenient for everyone — especially Germany — that I've no doubt that the euro won't just survive, but it will be one of the landmarks for the world economy." (...) >>>

Feb. 22. 2012
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What's the ECB up to? -

Who saw the mess yesterday with the EU and EZ officials and politicians affirming, then reneging on the 2nd Greek bailout, ain't seen nothing yet. Here's today 's basket of follies - WILL GREECE DEFAULT AS EARLY AS MONDAY? asks Vincent Cignarella - Tyler Durden has his own humble opinion, and it's very involved and worth the read -

Zerohedge: "ECB To Fund Eurozone Central Banks As PSI Sweetener"

Feb. 16, 2012
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The mess of the 2nd Greek bailout -

FT: "More on leaked Greek debt deal documents, by Peter Spiegel

This morning, the dead tree edition of the FT has a story based on some leaked documents we got our hands on regarding the massive Greek debt restructuring that needs to begin in a matter of days.
The documents make clear the schedule is slipping dangerously; the meeting of eurozone finance ministers tonight that has been cancelled was supposed to approve the launch of the restructuring so the process can begin Friday. The whole thing needs to be done before a €14.5bn Greek bond comes due for repayment March 20. Time is running out.

But perhaps more interestingly is the fact that eurozone finance ministries asked for financial advice from New York financial advisors Lazard and legal advice from the New York firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton about what the consequences would be if they launched the debt restructuring – but were forced to scrap it after it had started.
As is our tradition, we thought we’d give Brussels Blog readers a bit more on what the documents had to say. (...) >>>

Feb. 15, 2012
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Samaras, just say Ochi! -

Much to the exasperation of the EU hacks the Greeks are taking their time to find out what they're signing up to. It may all be posturing and their considerable negotiating skills. The Euro elites for their part - contrary to earlier narrative according to which Greece leaving the EMS was short of impossible - the EZ can perfectly survive without the Greeks. It started this morning with the Cookie Monster @NeelieKroesEU, a message that was reiterated in the afternoon by the Dutch PM. This was topped up tonight by this article in Germany's media flagship, Der Spiegel: Greece in order to survive, needs to go bankrupt. Regrettable, but true -

Der Spiegel: "It's Time To End the Greek Rescue Farce"

Feb. 7, 2012
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The Greek drama continues -

This weekend we're reaching the deadline in the Greek Second Bailout Saga. The PSI talks are still ongoing and in the midst of all this the leaders of the governing parties have rejected the austerity measures demanded by the troika (IMF, ECB, EU), a condition for the second bailout. A scheduled meeting of the EZ's AAA MinFins has been called off. They're seething with rage LOOOL. 150,000 civil servants are about to be laid off and the troika is demanded minimum wage to be reduced to €750. Earlier today it was reported, Greek PM Lucas Papademos would resign if his coalition government failed to agree to the Troika's demands. A poker game is now on who'll blink first. The troika is brutal, but Greeks are the masters of negotiation -

Zerohedge: "Greece Draws The Line As Unity Government Leaders Refuse To Cede To Further Troika Austerity Demands"

Feb. 3, 2012
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#EU economic summit Jan. 30, 2012 -

So here's the damage of the 30 Jan. EU summit:

25 of 27 EU countries will sign up to the FisCom. The UK and the Czech Republic (some didn't lose time in getting vindictive) (Czechs to scrutinise EU treaty, cracks widen in govt) have opted out.

PSI talks still ongoing Greece was hardly on the agenda, but the EMS and the FisCom were.

FisCom will enforce countries to not have a bigger debt ratio than 60% of GDP and to fix their budget balance. It will come into force from 1/1/2013 and include the EU Court of Justice to impose penalties of 0.1% to countries to fail into 3% GDP debt ratio. Countries that do not ratify won't have access to the bailout fund.

The EMS will come info force on June 1 this year. The permanent bailout fund will not be increased from 500 billion euros.

Also some leftovers were found in old budgets to fund the EU social-economic aspirations i.e. "creation of national jobs plans" (PDF official statement).

Jan. 31, 2012
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Who is the EU's Fuhrerine...?

The Slog: "REVEALED: Angela Merkel – Rigid serial conformist...and ruthless career technocrat"

Sarkozy: #Greece Austerity Can Only Be Implemented By Greek National Govt

Czech Republic Refuses To Join EU Fiscom

Dear readers, we have a Statement by the Members of the European Council, but you need a strong stomach to digest the central planning lingo: sustainable, green jobs, persistent and broad based, financial stability and fiscal consolidation, providing guidance on Member States' economic and employment policies (nanny knows best, as if we're all idiots who can't vote in our own governments). "Each Member State will set out in its National Reform Programme the concrete measures it will take to address these issues ("National Job Plans"); implementation will be subject to enhanced monitoring in the framework of the European semester." This is it, people, we are all euro-socialists now!

Merkel: "I believe that we are having a discussion that we shouldn't be having". Germany backtracks on EU commissioner to Athens

Telegraph live blogging at 13.13 We mentioned earlier on (12.20) that our man in Brussels, Bruno Waterfield, had a copy of that leaked EU draft treaty. Here's the full document, should you want to plough through it.

MERKEL SAYS EU WON'T HAVE 'THOROUGH' DISCUSSION OF GREECE

The Guardian - The prospect of Ireland being forced out of the eurozone by the new fiscal treaty has reared up this morning. European Affairs minister Lucinda Creighton told state radio this morning that Ireland's legal establishment is still considering whether to hold a referendum on the new treaty. The Attorney General is expected to give his verdict in a couple of weeks.

FXStreet - The Greek debt crisis talks may derail the summit plan as the final agreement between the Greek Government and the bondholders is not yet at the preferred rate of an average of 3.5% as it had been stipulated. The bondholders have agreed to a 3.6% coupon down from 4.2% average that had requested earlier.

PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT BONDS 10YR 16.95%

EU Fiscal Pact Draft: Pact To Enter Into Force When 12 Sign It; Countries Must Ratify Pact By March 2012

EU22 billion of euro zone bonds sales this week. Off to a good start. #Italy sells 2022 bonds at 6.08% VS 6.98% on Dec. 29

#Moody's: Very Difficult For #Spain To Reach This Year's Deficit Target; Spain's Worsening Growth Prospects Complicate Fiscal Consolidation

Private investors treated like dirt in the EZ. Yeah, that will help, haircuts, state real estate Ponzi schemes and all. But wait, Paul Achleitner - Goldman Sachs alumni - has a plan!

Jan. 30, 2012
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Dump the euro! -

BREAKING! #BOMBSHELL Geert Wilders' PVV party has commisioned consultancy firm Lombard Street Research to investigate a return to the heritage currency! Well, the report has just been published. Some good news for Greece too #LOL #fastenseatbelts

FT has posted the PDF with the German plan for EU to control Greece's budget. And here's the official reaction from the Greek FinMin. Read more on the pOmoland Blog, Part 1.

Jan. 29, 2012
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The Mystery of the EcoFin -

Euro-zone finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday night finalised the Treaty scoping out the responsibilities of permanent euro bailout fund to replace the temporary EFSF, the ESM. But the meeting ran way over schedule, as Finland insisted on full ezone consensus on ESM bailouts…and today, The Slog and others found various press offices somewhat evasive on the exact content. What do the other 10 non-Ezone States think about it? As yet, nobody wants to say.
~

SNAFU update -

Angela Merkel has given 5 prominent leftist 'main stream' rags an indepth interview. The gist:

- The Luxembourg based European Court of Justice is to play police man over the budgets of the 17 countries making up the Fiscal Compact. Since it isn't equipped for such a purpose, no doubt this will be a tremendous success! Not.
- Unity is starting to show cracks as criticism of the pact and the Merkel policy is getting louder. "A lot of time and energy wasted for nothing," Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said. "Issues which have more to do with Germany than with Europe are playing an important role." Last week, a Finnish cabinet minister also attacked the treaty as having more to do with German domestic politics than with saving the euro.
- In all probability the ESM will not be established a year early in July without an agreement.
- Paymaster Germany is calling the shots, and they insist on political and fiscal integration. So be prepared for more and more serious erosion of national sovereignty. Merkel: "We need to become incrementally closer and closer"... "transfer more powers to the [European] Commission, which will then handle what falls within the European remit like a government of Europe. That will require a strong parliament. A kind of second chamber, if you like, will be the council comprising the heads of [national] government. And finally, the supreme court will be the European court of justice." Here's a reminder on the origins of eurofascism.
- Merkel ruled out pooling of eurozone debt – eurobonds – as a quick fix to the crisis, but left the option open as a possibility after the stabilization of integration.
- Due to the UK veto the FisCom is an international treaty between participating governments and not European legislation.

And then, there's this! While the PSI talks between Greece and the private debt holders are dragging on, a spokesman of Merkel's has is made known the ECB will not accept a writedown on its Greek bond holdings. How's that for restoring confidence in sovereign debt into the markets!

Oh, and erm SHOCK: Portugal wants a EUR 30 billion bailout. Zerohedge has the EUR FUBAR update and CNSNews has the Obama QE inflation update: Price of Gas UP 83% | Ground Beef UP 24% | Bacon UP 22%

Soros Says Europe Governments Did ‘Everything Wrong’ and is rattling the cages in Davos #NWO - More on the dossier Money and Economy -

Jan. 25, 2012
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Ehm, it's complicated...

On the eve of an important EZ FinMin meet up tomorrow, while Europe is waiting with bated breath the PSI negotiations between Greece and its private debt holders, the Germans have told the Italian axis of Super Mario Monti and Draghi of the #ECB, to stick it where the sun don't shine to their proposal to double the permanent bail out fund, ESM of 500 billion euros. The PSI negatiations between Greece/ECB and hedge fund managers might well drag into next week until Monday 29th -

Jan. 22, 2012
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Tax, tax, tax.... France and Germany, both at the heart of Europe, are preparing a plethora of taxes (all for our own good, no doubt) -

EUObserver: "Franco-German 'growth' plan looks to EU funds and taxes"

A six-point plan drafted by France and Germany has suggested corporate tax "co-ordination," an EU financial transactions tax and the re-deployment of EU funds in troubled countries as ways to spur growth and jobs. (...) >>>

FisCom new draft and rumors of Greek PSI -

There are rumors on the Greek PSI deal (for what it's worth). Talks are said to continue after the Greek afternoon break at 17:30GMT: PSI agreement on table coupons >2014s 3.5%; 2014-20 3.9%; 2020+ 4.6% = 65%-68% NPV haircut, 50% nominal.

Zerohedge isn't having any! "Remember that Greek bondholder PSI agreement that was "imminent", and which we said ain't coming any time soon, probably never? Well, the latest bout of the IIF's overpromising and never delivering, something the Charles Dallara agency has been so good at in the past, is starting to creep into market sentiment (...)". Read it all!

The latest on the sitution in Italy, in Greece. Doomberg opines that even if a the PSI deal in Athens is struck, the EZ is in deep trouble financing the sovereign debts. Read that too!

Next Monday Feb. 23 fthe EZ FinMins are meeting to discuss the latest draft of the Treaty (on the request of France upgraded from Agreement):

From Bloomberg: "a centralized “correction mechanism” to be triggered “automatically” in cases of “significant” deviations from a target structural deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to the draft dated Jan. 19 obtained by Bloomberg News.

The pact also empowers the European Commission to set deadlines for budgetary convergence. It gives the European Court of Justice the power to fine countries whose balanced-budget laws don’t pass muster, while stopping short of the ECB’s request that the court more broadly enforce the budget rules.

The latest draft is a return to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s drive to put stiffer rules on deficit control at the heart of efforts to combat the debt crisis."

Jan. 20, 2012
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#Bailout Alert! #ESM #EFSF

The pressure is on under the downgrade of France and Austria. Here's an analysis why AA status would actually be better than AAA rating. As a reminder what are these funds -

Reuters: "Analysis: Rescue fund downgrade raises pressure on euro zone"

Political resistance is clashing with financial imperatives as the euro zone tries to strengthen its capacity to rescue debt-stricken member states after Europe's temporary bailout fund lost its top-notch credit rating. (...) >>>

Jan. 17, 2012
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Black weekend for the oyro -

This is also the end of the temporary rescue fund EFSF. Downgrade isn't allowed by statute, but the lending capacity has been reduced to €293 billion, of which €250 is claimed by GR, IE, PT. The permanent bailout fund ESM will also have to be reviewed. President Rumpy Pumpy has called a EU summit for Jan. 30 in Brussels, the first of many, no doubt.

"Here Are The First Official Responses By French Politicians To S&P Downgrade."

Oh, and the PSI talks in Athens have been suspended for 'reflexion'. Barclays Capital is out with a very complete Q&A on 'everything you wanted to know about Greek PSI Talks and implications but were afraid to ask' -

Business Insider: "CONFIRMED: FRANCE HAS BEEN NOTIFIED IT WILL BE DOWNGRADED"

French officials have confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that their long-term credit rating has been downgraded one notch, to AA+. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's is expected to officially downgrade several European nations at 9 p.m. Central Europe time, or 3 p.m EST. S&P is also expected to also lower Austria's credit rating to AA+.

Earlier today, local French television outlets reported that sources within the government had received notification of imminent downgrade by S&P. Ratings agencies generally notify sovereigns and corporates of an impending downgrade before the announcement is made public. Early reports also note that Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are unlikely to see rating actions taken. (...)

"CreditWatch placements are prompted by our belief that systemic stresses in the eurozone have risen in recent weeks to the extent that they now put downward pressure on the credit standing of the eurozone as a whole," S&P said at the time. Standard and Poor's currently gives the region a 40% probability of output decline in 2012, led by difficulties in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. Below, the current ratings on European sovereigns(...) >>>

Jan. 13, 2012
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FisCom, dead on arrival -

FXStreet: "EU 'fiscal compact' cracks beginning to appear"

Reuters reported that the new EU 'fiscal compact' will include an escape clause from the rule requiring a balanced budget. The demand can be waived in the case of an economic downturn or "unusual event". In our view, this is a sign that that cracks are already beginning to appear in the plan before it has even been implemented and credibility will become an issue. Already, according to the text of the Dec. 9 summit, it is clear that punitive action against countries which breach the terms of the agreement will not be automatic, and will instead be a political decision. (...) >>>

Jan. 11, 2011
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All about the Greek debt negotiations -

The Greek state owes hedge funds some 200 billion euros. They are suppposed to accept a voluntary haircut of 50% or trigger Credit Default Swaps, considered equivalent to a Greek default. Guess what is the headline in San Francisco Chronicle? However did the SOBs, immoral hedge funds managers (something akin to weapons) get their hands on the debt, decries the Left! -

SF Gate: "Hedge Funds Try to Profit From Greece as Banks Face Losses"

Read all about the Greek debt negotiations! Related:

Show down in Greece: looking at high noon on March 20 minus 6 weeks is week starting Feb. 5. That's after the Swiss National Bank is on the verge of collapse! May you live in interesting times!

Zerohedge: "Hedge Funds Now Hold Future Of Europe Hostage"

Payback sure is a bitch. After being demonized for everything from the tiniest tick down in the EURUSD, to blowing out spreads in CDS, to plunging stocks across the insolvent continent, hedge funds, long falsely prosecuted for everything, even stuff they patently did not do, are about to have their day in the sun, precisely in the manner we predicted back in June of last year when we posted: "Greek Bailout #2 Is Dead On Arrival: A Few Good Hedge Funds May Have Called The ECB's Bluff, And Hold The Future Of The EUR Hostage." Back then we wrote: "we may suddenly find ourselves in the biggest "activist" investor drama, in which voluntary restructuring "hold out" hedge funds will settle for Cheapest to Delivery or else demand a trillion pounds of flesh from the ECB in order to keep the eurozone afloat. In other words, the drama is about to get very, very real. (...) >>>

Jan. 10. 2012
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FisCom 2.0 -

Draft 2 Fiscal Compact, Agreement on the request of France upgraded to Treaty

How's Greece doing? -

Dog-gone awful! While the Socialist government and it's public sector union clientele are certainly not without fault, the country is simply sacrificed to the worthless euro currency. A banking junta led by a Goldman Sachs central banker is running the governement and Greece is under constant scrutiny of a euromafia troika of IMF, ECB and EU. Two very intesting posts today: "EU CRISIS: GREEK TROUBLES DEEPEN AS FRANCE EYES BOND AUCTION WITH TREPIDATION" by The Slog -

Breach of Close: "The Lights Are Going Out in Athens", Petros Markaris

Jan. 5, 2012
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ECB appoints Belgian globalist -

The Slog: "EU DEBT CRISIS: Berlin anger as key ECB position goes to Belgian"

No sooner had the markets opened again on Monday (an official holiday in many Western countries) than another €14.8bn was drawn down by desperate eurobanks from the ECB’s marginal aka emergency funding desk. (...) Draghi is a shrewd, Goldman-trained consensus manager with a fine head for politics. The three new members of the ECB Board to join since he came on board have been French, German and Belgian. He has thus replaced two German resignees with one – while the other two do not suffer from the inflation phobia driving events in the Merkel Government. By far the most important of these moves was the replacement of hawk German Jurgen Stark yesterday with Belgian dove Peter Praet. It was also very surprising for most observers….and irritated several senior players in Berlin. (...) >>>

Jan. 4, 2012
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EFSF is rolling out -

The ECB is creating new money like a drunken sailor, but "Eurozone citizens not benefitting from ECB's easing". Just as a reminder, what is the EFSF, another inflation devize -

Reuters: "Euro zone bailout fund names managers for 3 billion euro issue"

The euro zone's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), appointed Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale on Tuesday as joint lead managers for its first 3-year, 3 billion euro bond sale. (...) The benchmark bond, due to be launched soon, is part of the EFSF's efforts to offer investors a greater range of maturities on its paper, following short-term bill auctions and 5- and 10-year sales, the fund said in a statement. The triple A-rated EFSF, which is backed by guarantee commitments for 780 billion euros and has a lending capacity of 440 billion euros, was set up in 2010 to provide emergency funding to heavily indebted euro zone nations. It has so far lent to Ireland and Portugal. >>>

Jan 3, 2012
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Trouble in the fiscal compact - Dan Hannan MEP has made some important discoveries regarding David Cameron's veto of the Fiscal Compact! Must read for EU watchers -

Telegraph: "The rats are gnawing at David Cameron's veto"

Dec. 31, 2011
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Post mortem and a look ahead -

January is expected to become a very busy month! Here's what's on the agenda:

(...) we expect January to remain the busiest month despite a EUR 5bn reduction in bond redemptions from EUR 63bn in the first month of 2011 to EUR 58bn expected for January 2012. Consequently, net issuance in January is expected to be particularly heavy at EUR 24bn vs. EUR 22bn in 2011." In other words: hold on tight.

Read "Hold On Tight: European Bond Issuance In January Is About To Get Very Bumpy" -

WSJ: "Deepening Crisis Over Euro Pits Leader Against Leader"

On a chilly October evening in her austere chancellery, Angela Merkel placed a confidential call to Rome to help save the euro. Two years after the European debt crisis erupted in little Greece, the unthinkable had happened: Investors were fleeing the government debt of Italy—one of the world's biggest economies. If the selloff couldn't be stopped, Italy would go down, taking with it Europe's shared currency. (...) >>>

Dec. 30, 2011
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#ECB succombs to copy>print pressure -

The ECB has taken some very dodgy paper from 523 banks and given them EUR 500bln at 1% three-year money. This means the ECB has just officially started copy > print (Quantative Easing (QE), or has become a Lender of Last Resort (LOLR). This will make the Germans happy! NOT really! Sarko’s trade idea is the banks will buy sovereign debt. What better use could banks have for half a trillion of free cash than to chuck it into sovereign bonds to fund social spending and state pensions? While waiting for the Christmas downgrade of France, Hungary is Downgraded to BB+ by S&P -

NYT: "Demand Is High for Euro Loans From Central Bank"

Dec. 21, 2011
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Text of tax treaty leaked -

Telegraph: "Revealed: the text of the new euro treaty", by Daniel Hannan

Is this it? Might this leaked document be the new accord signed in Brussels – the one that everyone keeps talking about but no one actually quotes? The text strikes me as remarkably plausible: its form and language will be familiar to all Old Brussels Hands, and its content chimes with what we have heard. (...) >>>

Dec. 17, 2011
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Downgrade fury -

FiPo: Belgium’s credit rating was cut one step by Standard & Poor’s, which said bank guarantees, political instability and slowing economic growth will make it difficult to reduce the nation’s debt load. The rating was lowered one step to AA, the third-highest investment grade, with a negative outlook, S&P said today in a statement -

Bloomberg: "France’s AAA Outlook Cut; Fitch Reviews Others"

(...) Fitch affirmed France’s AAA rating and placed Spain, Italy, Belgium, Slovenia, Ireland and Cyprus on a “Rating Watch Negative” review, which it expects to complete by the end of January, according to a statement released yesterday in London. Separately, Belgium’s credit rating was cut two levels to Aa3 yesterday by Moody’s Investors Service. (...) >>>

Dec. 16, 2011
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As Rome is burning -

As the dust over the 10th EU summit of the year is settling, it's turning out Britain isn't that isolated after all. With EZ members Finland and Netherlands having noted constitutional problems with signing off on chunks of national souvereignty, turns out non EZ nations Hungary and the Czech Republic are following Cameron's example in rejecting the treaty. In other news: with Europhiles have been separated from reality for a long time, insanity is what one does, I guess, when Rome is burning:

- TaxNews: "French Finance Minister François Baroin has revealed that a Franco-German ‘contribution’ to the idea of a tax imposed on financial transactions in Europe is due to be presented on January 23"

- Zerohedge: "Revised EFSF Draft Shows Italy, Spain Responsible For One Third Of European Bailout Funding"

- Zerohedge: "Australian Banks Given One Week To Prepare For European "Meltdown""

Dec. 16, 2011
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Applying another plaster -

Put it down to petty squabbling between the old powers, there's great truth in this critique from an old hand -

Telegraph: "Europe's blithering idiots and their flim-flam treaty", by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

What remarkable petulance and stupidity. The leaders of France and Germany have more or less bulldozed Britain out of the European Union for the sake of a treaty that offers absolutely no solution to the crisis at hand, or indeed any future crisis. It is EU institutional chair shuffling at its worst, with venom for good measure. (...) It tarts up the old Stability Pact without changing the substance (although there will be prior vetting of budgets). This "fiscal compact" is not going to make to make the slightest impression on global markets (...) There is no shared debt issuance, no fiscal transfers, no move to an EU Treasury, no banking licence for the ESM rescue fund, and no change in the mandate of the European Central Bank.
In short, there is no breakthrough of any kind that will convince Asian investors that this monetary union has viable governance or even a future.

Germany has kept the focus exclusively on fiscal deficits even though everybody must understand by now that this crisis was not caused by fiscal deficits (except in the case of Greece). Spain and Ireland were in surplus, and Italy had a primary surplus. As Sir Mervyn King said last week, the disaster was caused by current account imbalances (Spain's deficit, and Germany's surplus), and by capital flows setting off private sector credit booms. The Treaty proposals evade the core issue. (...) Given that Merkozy cannot bring themselves to accept that Europe's debacle stems from the euro itself, from a 30pc currency misalignment between from North and South, and from an over-leveraged €23 trillion banking bubble that German, French, Dutch, Belgian regulators allowed to happen… given that, yes, I suppose they have to find a scapegoat. (...) >>>

Dec. 9, 2011
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Darned Finns and their constitution -

Strange, these Finns have a constitution which actually forbids high treason and national suicide! Now what will Merkozy do? #EMS The Brits and the Poles (non EZ countries) are against proposed plans to auto enforce budget discipline. The French Min. for European Affairs, Jean Leonetti has predicted the euro may actually 'explode'. He also expressed 'irritation' with US based credit rating agencies: they should stay out of politics LOL - update: even the flimsy Dutch Constitution forbids transfer of souvereignty, unless Parliament approves by a 2/3 majority -

EUObserver: "Finland objects to loss of veto over EU bail-outs"

Finland has objected to a Franco-German plan to make decisions on using the eurozone bail-out fund easier, saying it is an "alarming" move. Finnish finance minister Jutta Urpilainen on Wednesday (7 December) said she could not accept Paris and Berlin's push, outlined in a letter sent to Brussels on Wednesday evening, that decisions on the eurozone's rescue mechanisms should be made by majority vote rather than by unanimity. ”In the future, consensus would no longer be required. From the Finnish perspective, it is a very alarming arrangement, and one that Finland cannot accept," she said (...) >>>

Dec. 8, 2011
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Rumors, disinformation and speculation -

Here's the latest on the treaty change or whatever other tricks the europhiles have up their sleeve to save the euro and f**k the European peoples -

- WSJ: "Europe Leaders Study Options to Treaty Change"
- Telegraph: "The euro is destroying Europe – and for some reason Britain is supporting it", by Dan Hannan
- Zerohedge: "FT Releases Mother Of All Rumors"

Dec. 6, 2011
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Waiting for the declaration of war -

Merkozy are pushing for auto sanctions for sinners (which were already in place in the treaty, but France and Germany were the first to use that particular page as toilet paper), no bonds, time being of the essence! LOLz Here's the EUS-USD chart shortly after the presser LOL In the meanwhile... credit crunch part 2, a rare view into pomonomics. Meanhile S&P are threatening an all over EZ credit downgrade (full text on FrAAAnce, full text GermAAAny): wondering how long it will take for the europhiles to declare war on the messengers - update: temporary bailout fund EFSF also under rating scrutiny -

Zerohedge: "Here Comes The S&P Downgrade Barrage - Full Statement, In Which S&P Says France May Get Two Notch Downgrade"


From S&P: "Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today placed its long-term sovereign ratings on 15 members of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU or eurozone) on CreditWatch with negative implications. .. We expect to conclude our review of eurozone sovereign ratings as soon as possible following the EU summit scheduled for Dec. 8 and 9, 2011. Depending on the score changes, if any, that our rating committees agree are appropriate for each sovereign, we believe that ratings could be lowered by up to one notch for Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and by up to two notches for the other governments. [THIS MEANS FRANCE]" (...) >>>

Dec. 5, 2011
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Germany's final solution to save euro -

Zerohedge: "Here Comes Europe's Hail Mary - Presenting The "Redemption Fund""

A week ago, Zero Hedge brought up the last Hail Mary available in Europe's fiscal arsenal: the Redemption Fund. Specifically we said, " There are currently three options being discussed for the Stabilittee bonds - all of which have more than short-term time horizons for any potential implementation and so we suspect, as CS mentions, that the talk of the Redemption Fund from the German Council of Economic Experts will grow louder as an interim step" and quoting Credit Suisse, " One proposal that might be able to co-exist with the Treaties as they are is the recommendation of the German Council of Economic Experts, pooling sovereign debt in a Redemption Fund as we discussed briefly last week.

We are quite surprised that the idea does not seem to have generated more traction in the press since it is one of few proposals that actually provides a means for reducing debt (rather than moving it around the euro area) and is aimed not to fall foul of the German Constitution. Something based around this idea might be a contender for a precursor to permanent Eurobonds, buying time while the Treaties are changed." Sure enough here is Reuters showing that it only took Germany one week to catch up to what our readers already knew, from Reuters: "Germany will propose setting up special national funds for euro zone sovereign debt that is over 60 percent of gross domestic product to help build market confidence, the country's finance minister said on Thursday. Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters that Germany would make the proposal at a European Union summit next week.

The funds should be supported by public revenues and dismantled within 20 years, he said." In other words even Europe now admits that the EFSF as even as stop gap measure to fill the void before the ECB acquiesces to print, is dead, and is looking at the last measure available to fix the fundamental problem at the heart of the Eurozone (yesterday's liquidity band aid is just that) which is the rolling of untenable amounts of leverage. Unfortunately, the core provision of Schauble's redemption fund variation which is that the fund is national, "which would get around German concerns about the "communitarization" of debt between European states" means that the idea is hardly unlikely to pick up as it relies on already insolvent countries to fund it. If this is indeed the final backstop to be presented at the European Summit, it may be time to turn bearish on Europe all over again, today's surging sovereign bond prices notwithstanding. (...) >>>

Dec. 1 , 2011
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Euro collapse news, don't hedge your bets! -

Now that ESFS recapitalization of banks and leveraging has been a failure, will Merkel allow the ECB to copy/print? Intrade contract pricing "Any country currently using the Euro to announce their intention to drop it midnight ET 31 Dec 2012" is now trading at perfectly even odds or 50%. John Taylor, the founder of New York-based FX Concepts LLC, the world’s largest currency hedge fund, says in an interview: ""What’s stupid is that the ECB is holding it up. Why are they holding up the euro? One of the problems, besides the ECB, is the banks are shrinking, and the banks are selling all of their offshore assets and bringing them back to Europe. That means in fact there is a persistent buyer of euros and it’s their own financial institutions."

- "Europe's Grand Plan - 3 Strikes And You're All In"
- "InTrade Odds On Euro Collapse By End Of 2012 Now At 50%"
- "John Taylor: "The Euro Is In A Death Struggle""

Nov. 29, 2011
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#Occupy Italy and your budget rights -

Here another analysis on the Italian situation: "Italy Is Closer To Collapse Than Anyone Realized, And So Is The World" -

IBT: "Germany, France Plan Quick, New Stability Pact: Report"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are planning more drastic means -- including a quick new Stability Pact -- to fight the Eurozone sovereign-debt crisis, Welt am Sonntag reported Sunday. The Sunday newspaper reported in an advance before publication that if necessary Germany and France were ready to join a number of countries in agreeing to tough budget discipline.

The account, echoing a Reuters report on Friday from Brussels, quoted German government sources as saying that the crisis-fighting plan could possibly be announced by Merkel and Sarkozy in the coming week. The report said that because it would take too long to change existing European Union treaties, Eurozone countries should avoid such delays by agreeing to a new Stability Pact among themselves -- possibly to be implemented at the beginning of the new year. (...) >>>

Nov. 27, 2011
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"Transfer union" -

With the EFSF bailout fund in mortal danger, the idea seems to be to let the IMF jump in, who'll get the money from the ECB. That, and transfer union -

Reuters: "Fischer urges Germany to pay price of saving euro"

Former foreign minister Joschka Fischer urged Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday to admit to Germany that ceding central bank independence and some sovereignty, and underwriting other states' debts, was the inevitable price of saving the euro.

"There is no way round it: the price of the stability union will be a 'transfer union' and vice-versa," Fischer told Reuters in an interview.

German critics of bailing out over-indebted members of the euro zone such as Greece call this process a 'transfer union', whereby fiscally-disciplined countries like Germany pay for the excessive debts and deficits of their European partners.

"You can't have one without the other -- that is the price of the euro," said Fischer, who was a strong advocate of Europe as foreign minister from 1998-2005, when his Greens shared power with Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD).

Fischer, a sharp critic of conservative leader Merkel's leadership in the sovereign debt crisis, said her government was always doing "too little, too late. Which means the solutions to the debt crisis are getting more and more costly." (...) >>>

Nov. 25, 2011
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Today's disasters -

Fitch gave France a credit warning, setting a time bomb under the euro project. If the country is downgraded it is no longer able to participate in the EFSF bail out scheme. That will be the end of it, since Germany and a few other small triple A countries aren't able to guarantee the rest of the EZ. In fact, France isn't trading like a triple A: technically the downgrade is already a fact. Dan Hannan asks, "Would stricken eurozone countries really be better off with their own currencies?" What's more, Germany's bund auction has flopped epically:

Zerohedge: "Eurozone Contagion Deepens After Disastrous German Auction; Silver Supply Issues"

(...) The euro came under pressure due to the surprise collapse in new Eurozone industrial orders which led to Germany failing to get bids for 35% of bunds offered. The German 10-year bund yield rose sharply from 1.92% to over 2.06%.

This is one of Germany's worst auctions since the launch of the Euro with the Bundesbank having to pick up nearly 40% of the 6 billion euros on offer.

The German auction in turn led to further weakness in European equity markets. Asian equity indices followed US equities lower after news of a new US bank stress test and then the poor Chinese manufacturing data. (...) >>>

Nov. 23, 2011
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Latest set of Must Read articles on euro crunch time -

- The Telegraph: "The euro is a macro-economic weapon of mass destruction - it simply must be defused"
- Independent: "Crunch week for the eurozone"
- NYT: "Scare Tactics in Greece"
- BBC: "Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom"

Nov. 20, 2011
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The mess we are in -

Almost impossible to keep up with the news! The first is actually good news (at last). The second a measures of the madness that grips Europe.

- Zerohedge: "Instead Of Relenting To Demands To Let ECB Print, Germany Is Preparing To Kick Countries Out Of Eurozone"

- Zerohedge: "Ireland: "Germany Is Our New Master" - the document - the English translation

Nov. 19, 2011



With two technocrat dictatorships installed under #EUSSR #ECB Czars in Rome and Athens, we're another step closer to total collapse. These academic pomo 'makers' are supposed to "save their countries from bankruptcy". Propping up the oyri, is more like it. Never assigning the crisis to their phobia of the markets, after the politicians fubared up the system, it is now up to the pomo academics to finish the Italian job. They can be entrusted to Cloward-Piven the system in order to usher in a fascoid centralist superstate -

Pomoland:

- "#EUSSR: The Three Stooges, Who Are They? *dons alu hat*"
- "#EUSSR: Brussels Delighted With "Regime Changes""
- "#EUSSR: Another Eight Putsches To Go!!"

Townhall: "Europe Ushers in Dictatorship of the Technocrats", by John Ransom

Nov. 17, 2011
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#OccupiedGreece #OccupiedItaly - The Italian Job -

A pattern is emerging of the #EUSSR in bailed out countries: referendums and elections are suspended. The entire political class in implicated in a broad national government under leadership of a #EUSSR puppet PM. The EU is having them signing affidavits to implement the packages (see entry on Nov. 9 "Samaras digs in his heels").

Lucas Papademos is a former VP ECB, a "former governor of the central bank, a professor at Athens University and, more recently, an economic advisor to outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou. Like Papandreou, he was educated in part in the United States, taking a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After leaving the ECB, he again crossed the Atlantic, accepting a professorship at the world-famous Harvard University, teaching "The Global Financial Crisis: Policy Responses and Challenges."

Mario Monti is a former EU Commissioner. "In 2010, Monti was entrusted by Barroso to produce a Report on the future of the Single Market proposing further measures towards the completion of the EU single market. On 15 September 2010 Monti supported the new initiative Spinelli Group, which was founded to reinvigorate the strive for federalisation of the European Union (EU). Other prominent supporters are: Jacques Delors, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Andrew Duff, Elmar Brok. As well as being President of the Bocconi University of Milan, Monti is the first chairman of Bruegel, a European think tank founded in 2005. He is also European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission," a think tank founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller and a member of the Bilderbergers -

Zeenews.com: "Mario Monti emerges as favourite to lead Italy"

Former European Commissioner Mario Monti emerged on Thursday as favorite to replace Silvio Berlusconi and form a new government to stave off a run on Italian bonds that is endangering the entire eurozone. Monti, a highly respected international figure, has been pushed by markets for weeks as the most suitable figure to lead a national unity government that will urgently push through painful austerity measures. (...) >>>

Nov. 10, 2011
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The EU is pulling a 'Paulson' on Greece's opposition. Greeks are Christians with good enough knowledge of the devil to know his MO is to make as many accomplices as possible. Samaras ain't buying -

Athens News: "Samaras digs in his heels"

Repeating his rejection of an EU demand that he provide a written undertaking that he would implement the bailout package that eurozone leaders agreed last month, the New Democracy leader said in the early hours of Wednesday morning that he will not sign the statement.

According to sources, Antonis Samaras added that he was certain that the European Union would withdraw the request on the grounds that he has repeatedly stated his commitment in public that as he considers the signing of the loan agreement inevitable, he will sign up the agreement. "And that suffices," Samaras said. (...) >>>

Nov. 9, 2011
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More evidence of malicious intent -

WSJ/The Source: "Did the Euro’s Architects Expect It to Fail?"

Could it be that the politicians and eurocrats who designed the structures of the euro zone always knew they were flawed, but reasoned that a structural breakdown would enable them to bring in the common fiscal policy that would otherwise have been politically impossible? (...) “Some of the politicians who introduced the euro, who pressed for it to be introduced, realized we would come to this crisis at some stage but they also realized that the crisis would take them further towards their goal, which was fiscal union as well, and creating a United States of Europe,” Mr. Jeffrey told listeners to Wake Up to Money on BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday. “So in a sense the reaction of euro land to say what we need now is a tighter fiscal union is exactly what people wanted,” he added. “They knew some of the risks they were taking and knew there would be a crisis at some stage.” Mr. Jeffrey’s argument takes us well beyond the idea that the politicians thought that political will alone could hold the euro zone together. It suggests they knew it wouldn’t. (...) >>>

Nov. 8, 2011
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#EUSSR suspends democracy in Greece: the #EUSSR's puppet govt in Athens -

H Kathimerini: "EU-prescribed coalition gives Greece short-term relief"

The European Union stepped in to force Greece's political parties into a coalition that will save the country from immediate default but the bickering that marked the negotiations bodes ill for Greece's place in the euro zone.

The deal on the new coalition, to be fleshed out on Monday, still lacks an agreed prime minister and a clear mandate but will allow Greece to collect an international loan installment it needs before it runs out of cash in December.

While some analysts breathed a sigh of relief, most doubted a coalition of factious parties would will be able to push through the deep reforms, unpopular salary cuts and tax measures Greece needs to stay on an EU/IMF lifeline for long. (...) >>>

Nov. 7, 2011
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Built on make belief -

An article in NYT gives us the historical timeline of the psychopathological reaction to the Greek collapse. Here's an alternative view from Greece from an radical libertarian. Here are the ethics! These europhile bureaucrats are behaving like gangsters, making banks accomplices in their crimes -

Banks cannot participate voluntarily in illegal acts, such as fiduciary imprudency. Bank directors are committed to bank's welfare, and not the public interest. If bankers waive outstanding debts at the expense of the bank, this is a breach of trust and punishable by law. All those bankers, that IIF claims plan to participate in rollovers, might go to jail for violating the fiduciary duty of prudency! October-18 Mafia pressures the banks to participate, but it really opens Pandora's box.

Venetism: "GLUCKSKIND VENIZELOS WILL BE THE NEW PREMIER OF GREECE"

Nov. 5, 2011
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Tyranny starts here -

Telegraph: "This was the week that European democracy died"

Democracy went down in a blaze of glory last week. Both the German Bundestag and our own House of Commons put up one hell of a fight against the dying of the light. Maybe history will record that fact in an elegy on the demise of the great 18th-century experiment in government by the people: they were eloquent to the end. Because at the end, eloquence was all they had.

Trying to hold back the resurgence of oligarchy – the final dismantling of democratic responsibility in the governing of Europe – has been looking pretty hopeless for a long time. That eruption of excellent rhetoric and faultless argument which sprang to the defence of the rights of the governed (and in Germany’s case, of constitutional legality) made the loss seem all the more tragic, but no less inevitable.

So this is where we are. The agreed EU “stability union” triumphantly paraded before the media in Brussels will have the power to approve or disapprove budgets of countries in the eurozone – that is, to vet and police them – before they are submitted to the elected parliaments of those countries. In other words, parliaments which are directly mandated by, and answerable to, their own populations will not control the most essential functions of government: decisions on taxation and spending. Even without the ultimate institutions of economic and political union, which still elude the EU, actual power over fiscal policy will be taken from the hands of national leaders. And if, as a voter, you cannot influence your prospective government’s tax and spending policies, what exactly are you voting for? (...) >>>

Nov. 3, 2011
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Oooh, the regent class will be shocked -

The Socialist govt of Greece is playing for time with this referendum ploy ... oh, and the Oyro stress tests were wholly inadequate (so that we know) -

Kathimerini: "Greeks to vote on future in eurozone?"

As pressure from Greece’s foreign creditors and austerity-weary citizens mounts on the government, Prime Minister George Papandreou is considering calling for a referendum on whether Greece should continue to tackle its debt crisis within the eurozone or by exiting the single currency.

According to sources, Papandreou hopes that the outcome of such a vote would constitute a fresh mandate for his Socialist government to continue with an austerity drive backed by Greece’s international lenders -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. (...) >>>

Sept. 19, 2011
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The state, so far -

How will it end? Our educated guess is that Greece will be bailed out and will remain in the EZ, the EUSSR will rush ahead with fiscal integration and that tax cheat Timmy Geithner, due on Friday in Poland for a meeting with EZ finance ministers, will ask the Fed to get QE3 rolling - let's see what happens on Friday -

Mail Online: "Sorry, I was wrong!", by Max Hastings

Put aside the crash this week in European shares over the nightmare that is the Greek economy, and the fact remains that the EU is in dire straits, unprecedented in its history. All my adult life, I have called myself a pro-European. I deplored Brussels’ follies as much as anyone, but went on hoping for better things. I believed Europe was broadly a force for good. However, today, I recant. After much agonising and hesitation, I adopt the conclusion that many of you probably reached years ago: that the EU in its present form has become a disaster, which threatens the future of its major members, unless its terms and powers are drastically recast. (...) >>>

Sept. 13, 2011
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Over the edge ... must read -

Read also, the Euri, the socialist 'solidarity' currency - FT: "‘It is relatively clear that (in economic terms) the Euro does not work’", by Tracy Alloway -

Telegraph: "Germany and Greece flirt with mutual assured destruction"

First we learn from planted leaks that Germany is activating "Plan B", telling banks and insurance companies to prepare for 50pc haircuts on Greek debt; then that Germany is “studying” options that include Greece's return to the drachma. German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has chosen to do this at a moment when the global economy is already flirting with double-dip recession, bank shares are crashing, and global credit strains are testing Lehman levels. The recklessness is breath-taking.

If it is a pressure tactic to force Greece to submit to EU-IMF demands of yet further austerity, it may instead bring mutual assured destruction. "Whoever thinks that Greece is an easy scapegoat, will find that this eventually turns against them, against the hard core of the eurozone," said Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos. Greece can, if provoked, pull the pin on the European banking system and inflict huge damage on Germany itself, and Greece has certainly been provoked. (...) >>>

Sept. 11, 2011
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The debt crisis -

- Europe's Web of Debt - 

NYT: "In and Out of Each Other’s European Wallets"

Despite the best efforts of the International Monetary Fund, the financial crisis in Europe seems full of suspense. Will Germany and the European Union actually cough up the money to help bail out Greece, which is on the edge of a financial meltdown? Will the contagion spread to other vulnerable countries, like Portugal and Spain? (...) >>>

Aug 7, 2011
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The beast is demanding human sacrifice -

Details, markets -

Telegraph: "The EU is preparing the mother of all bailouts", by Dan Hannan

The markets have run out of patience. Gold is at a record high, and the southern eurozone governments face crippling interest payments on their debts. (...) Eurocrats are prepared to pay an enormous price – or, rather, to expect their peoples to pay an enormous price – to sustain the euro. It now seems clear what that price will be. Federalists have long been demanding a unified eurozone bond market. EU leaders will invite holders of junk debt from eurozone governments to exchange their liabilities for new, EU-backed bonds. In other words, the bad debts run up by some national governments will be transferred to the EU as a whole. It will be a bailout by another name, a bailout on a wholly unprecedented scale. Thus will the EU become the fiscal union which to which integrationists have long aspired. (...) >>>

July 20, 2011
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Farage deserves a medal! -



July 9, 2011
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WSJ: "Moody’s Downgrades Portugal to ‘Junk’"

Moody’s has just downgraded Portugal’s debt to “junk” status, putting a tiny dent in the US stock market. Moody’s, which has been a busy camper with the downgrades and the warnings of late, cut Portugal’s long-term debt rating four notches, to “Ba2,” junk-bond territory, from “Baa1.” It also downgraded Portugal’s short-term debt rating, to “not-prime from “prime-2.” (...) >>>

July 4, 2011
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The #EUSSR is going organic -

While the people of Greece, Portugal and Ireland are brought to their knees, and the rest of Euriland is on the eve of a monetary implosion, Europe's little sun kings are festing on the remains of the marginal nation states -

pOmoLanD: "EUSSR MIDWIVES POMO OFFICE ($407.000.000)"

#EUSSR President Rumpy Pumpy is calling his new European office his bling bling box. The British endboss David Cameron likens it to a "gilted cage". Bill Cash MP has demanded an investigation into the costs involved in this "'Aladdin's palace...a cross between the bonfire of the vanities and Kafka's Castle'". His Grace typifies it as the womb of the cult of death. The 'organic' edifice of steel and glass in the shape of an urn is exlained by the EUSSR nomenklatura as the "E-Uterus", in other words the uterus of Europe. (...) >>>

June 29, 2011
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Nigel Farage speaking truth to power -

Hat Tip: @leenders



June 22, 2011
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Update on the Greek crisis -

Talks to form a unity government with the opposition New Democracy party - as the European pay masters demanded - collapsed last week. Opposition leader Antonio Samaras is opposing the tax hike. Will he save Liberty in Europe single handedly? The Socialist govt tonight is facing a confidence vote in Parliament. There's also talk of a referendum. Here's the Greek economy in stats and figures -

Daily FX: "Greek Confidence Vote to Guide Euro"

(...) In the first seven years of the decade, the Greek economy grew at a strong annual rate of 4.2 percent on seemingly endless capital inflows. With the entry of Greece into the newly formed European Union, Greek bonds commanded much lower interest rates, at points below 5.0 percent on 2-year government bonds, as disillusioned investors believed that the Grecian economy would strongly benefit from this new monetary system. The growing economy and the lower bond yields led the Greek government to believe that they would be able to run large structural deficits without much adverse effect on the economy. (...) >>>

June 21, 2011
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Second Greek euri support ops under way -

As pOmoLanD already scooped on May 10, the second euri support operation is being set. Contrary to the first one, this package is actually supported partly by private sector banks - progress! -

WSJ: "Greece Set to Get Next Aid Payout"

A top euro-zone official said Friday that cash-strapped Greece is in line for a fresh program of aid from its peers in the currency union, and European Union and International Monetary Fund authorities said Athens would likely get in July the next tranche of money from last year's €110 billion ($158 billion) bailout. The announcements suggest positions have softened in the complicated standoff between European countries and institutions over how to handle Greece. The IMF had indicated it wouldn't be prepared to sign off on the next dollop of money without assurances that Greece has enough financing to carry it for another year. That worry appears to have been alleviated. (...) >>>

June 5, 2011
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Greece a ward of the EU super state?

As the opposition Nea Dimokratia party has refused to support what the Greek Socialist government has negotiated with the troika of EU-IMF-ECB, the next coup against the people is around the corner. Get this -

FT: "Greece set for severe bail-out conditions"

European leaders are negotiating a deal that would lead to unprecedented outside intervention in the Greek economy, including international involvement in tax collection and privatisation of state assets, in exchange for new bail-out loans for Athens. But Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, ECB executive board member, said talk about Greece reneging on debt commitments “has been very damaging” and suggests “that investing in the euro area is unsafe.” (...) >>>

May 29, 2011
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Installing democracy 2.0 in Greece - This piece clearly shows where 'bailed out' countries are heading! Towards de facto dictatorship. The troika of EU-IMF-ECB is forcing the major parties to support their policies, creating a situation in which voters have nothing to choose. Voila, a dictatorship has been born! They've done it in Ireland, no they're doing it to Greece. But the right-wing Nea Demokratia Party is having none of this. It is up to them to keep the ship of liberty afloat. Installing democracy 2.0 in Greece ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 5% -

Bloomberg: "Greek leaders fail to agree on austerity measures"

The European Union's top finance official urged political leaders in debt-ridden Greece to quickly agree on further austerity measures, but a new government bid to reach a consensus on that issue failed Friday. EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said cross-party talks in Athens must continue, despite the main opposition conservatives' refusal to endorse more cutbacks.

"The (EU) Commission regrets the failure of Greek party leaders to reach consensus on economic adjustment to overcome the current debt crisis." Rehn said. "An agreement has to be found soon. Time is running out," he said, regarding support needed for the EU-IMF program. The commissioner's warning came after Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras refused to bend to EU pressure after a three-hour crisis meeting involving the heads of all Greece's major political parties. (...) >>>

May 28, 2011
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It just got worse -

Business Insider: "EUROPE IS GOING KA-BLAMO RIGHT NOW: Here's What You Need To Know"

The situation in Europe is deteriorating today, with yields on fringe eurozone debt spiking and the price of CDS rising. (...) >>>

May 23, 2011
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Euronets, fair and balanced -

The Telegraph: "Alarm over EU 'Great Firewall' proposal"

Broadband providers have voiced alarm over an EU proposal to create a “Great Firewall of Europe” by blocking “illicit” web material at the borders of the bloc. Anti-censorship campaigners compared the plan to China’s notorious system for controlling citizens’ access to blogs, news websites and social networking services. The proposal emerged an obscure meeting of the Council of the European Union’s Law Enforcement Work Party (LEWP), a forum for cooperation on issues such as counter terrorism, customs and fraud.

“The Presidency of the LEWP presented its intention to propose concrete measures towards creating a single secure European cyberspace,” according to brief minutes of the meeting. The secure European cyberspace would have a "virtual Schengen border", it adds, referring to the treaty that allows freedom of movement within the EU but imposes controls on entry to the bloc. There would also be “virtual access points" whereby “the Internet Service Providers would block illicit contents on the basis of the EU ‘black-list’”, the proposal says. (...) >>>

May 10, 2011
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Rumpy Pumpy strikes again! -

On the occasion of Europe Day (whatever that may be) Pres. Rumpy Pumpy has produced a mind boggling haiku, which meantime has been transformed into what it actually should read -

A corona of stars
Rolling over the deep blue sea
Together forever
#haiku #Europeday

May 9 , 2011
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Delusion and yada yada -

The unelected, ballot box phobic "President" Rumpy Pumpy makes an entire series of ridiculous claims about the EU: "the bloc must not be seen as a new "Moscow", but instead, the "Fatherland of peace." "The union's force of attraction accelerated the collapse of Communism and the end of the Cold War. That is a victory," he continued. While in Berlin last November, he issued a stark warning against the forces of nationalism, euro-scepticism and populism: "We have together to fight the danger of a new euro-scepticism," he said at the time. "Fear leads to egoism, egoism leads to nationalism, and nationalism leads to war ... It is a feeling all over Europe, not of a majority, but everywhere present." Read it all - it's embarrassing! -

EUObserver: "Van Rompuy: Europe is 'Fatherland of peace'"

Jan. 17, 2011
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FEATURE - political integration is coming -

Prepare to lose your nation state, your sovereignty and national autonomy. The euro is costing us our freedom. Wait for EU direct taxation and the merging of budgets. See how we got here -

WSJ:" As Ireland Flails, Europe Lurches Across the Rubicon"

- Merkel and Sakozy taking a walk at Deauville on Oct. 18, 2010 -

On Oct. 18, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy took a sunset stroll on the beach of this chic casino resort. Five months earlier, Europe had committed more than $100 billion to rescue Greece. Now the Continent's debt crisis was moving on to Ireland, and the German leader worried Berlin would have to foot the bill for this and future bailouts. (...) Since the European community was established in 1957, its leaders have labored to forge an economic union that could compete on the global stage and, more important, ensure the Continent never plunged back into the world wars of the 20th century. Their crowning achievement was the creation of a common currency in 1999.

Ever since, economists have warned that monetary union, without a parallel authority to regulate taxes and spending, was destined to fail because there was no way to enforce the fiscal discipline essential to a currency's health. Now, as Europe's year of crisis grinds to a close, the Continent's leaders are contemplating what many long resisted: a United States of Europe. (...) the impact of the permanent bailout fund was undeniable: All the euro-zone countries now will become partly responsible for their free-spending brethren. That could prod the countries to head off fiscal irresponsibility by involving themselves more deeply in each other's tax and spending policies. (...) >>>

Jan. 1, 2011
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Spiegel spill the beans ... how an entire continent was deceived by its leaders, particularly those rather 'fundamentalist' when it comes to the morality of democratic values -

Der Spiegel: "Europe Turns against Germany"

Germany's controversial approach to fighting the euro crisis has split the European Union. Some countries are complaining about Berlin's rigid course, while others accuse Chancellor Merkel of betraying the European project. The only thing they can agree on is that the EU needs Germany as a motor if it is to survive. (...)

Monnet, who is considered a "father of Europe," wanted to guide European countries into a super-state "without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose." Apparently the fathers of the euro acted in accordance with the same philosophy later on.

 The new currency became a vehicle for further integration, and the EU became a monetary union -- but not an economic, let alone a political, union. As a result, the current financial crisis is too much to handle for the continent and the EU colossus. Will the 2010 euro crisis also lead to an existential crisis for the Union? (...) questions of fiscal policy aren't the only things at stake.

The EU project itself is on the line, a project that became a model of success over decades and has anchored Germany at the center of Europe. The reversion to national interests, previously the privilege of the French and the British within the EU, is especially serious in Germany, because the once familiar commitment to the European idea has become rare. (...) >>>

Dec. 20, 201-
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Ireland, bondage and bail outs -

WSJ: "Ireland Votes 'Yes' to Bailout"

Irish lawmakers Wednesday voted to accept €67.5 billion ($90.4 billion) in loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund as part of an €85 billion package to shore up Ireland's stricken banks and public finances.

Acceptance of the package is an important victory for Prime Minister Brian Cowen's ruling coalition, though it is expected to lose power in a general election early next year amid widespread dissatisfaction with the government's role in Ireland's financial crisis. The government won by a six-vote margin.

The EU and IMF money will be used to stabilize Ireland's banks and provide the exchequer with funds while sky-high borrowing costs keep Ireland locked out of capital markets. Ireland is contributing another €17.5 billion of its own resources to the rescue package and has agreed to bilateral loans from the U.K. and other nations. (...) Opposition parties Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein voted against accepting the loans from the EU and IMF, saying they represented a bad deal for the Irish people.

The center-right Fine Gael, which is expected to lead Ireland in coalition with the left-of-center Labour party after the general election, vowed to renegotiate the terms of the loans if it wins power. During a debate preceding the vote in the Dail, Ireland's lower house, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny blamed Ireland's inability to raise funds on the government's 2008 guarantee of banks' debts.

"This policy of writing blank checks for banks has destroyed this country's creditworthiness," Mr. Kenny said. "This is a bad deal negotiated by a government in its last days, which seeks to tie the hands of the next government for three or four years," said Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, who added that the EU and IMF deal was hurried and potentially unworkable. Labour will also seek to renegotiate the deal if in power, said Mr. Gilmore.

Sinn Fein's leader in the Dail, Caoimhghin O Caolain, said the bailout package is "a deal that will sell the Irish people into economic bondage." (...) >>>

Dec. 16, 2010
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A moment of I told ya so...

While Boris Johnson's column is on a light note, the editorial on the Telegraph spells grave tidings. The eurozone is beyond the aid of a psychiatrist, it needs an undertaker -

Should we blame the current hapless leaders, or the guilty men of Maastricht who created this doomsday machine? If the project itself is rotten, surely what the eurozone needs most is an undertaker. (....) >>>

Telegraph: "Snooty Europhiles should be forced to crawl in penitence", by Boris Johnson

The 'blimpish Little Englanders’ who opposed monetary union were right all along. I think we deserve an apology. By “we” I mean all the Euro-sceptics, Euro-pragmatists, Euro-realists and Euro-hysterics who were alarmed by some of the optimism that surrounded the birth of the single currency. Do you remember the disdain with which we were treated? We were told that we were boss-eyed Little Englanders. They used to say we were a bunch of xenophobic, garlic-hating defenders of the pint and the yard and the good old bread-filled British banger. Whenever we protested about any detail of the plan for monetary union, we were told that we were in danger of stopping the great European train, boat, bus, bicycle or whatever it was.

We were a blimpish embarrassment to our country, a bunch of idiot children who had to be shooshed while the grown-ups got on with their magnificent plans. So it gives me a tingling pleasure to report that everywhere you look on the map of Europe we have been proved resoundingly and crushingly right. (...) all those snooty Europhile politicians and journalists who sneered at us for our doubts should be forced to crawl in penitence to Dublin Castle, scourging themselves with copies of the Maastricht Treaty. We have been vindicated, and the least they can do is admit it. They know who they are. (...) >>>

Dec. 13, 2010
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Next step, budget fusion -

EUobserver: "ECB chief: 'Europe needs budgetary federation'"

European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet has called on European states to fuse together their budgetary processes in order to save the euro. "We have got a monetary federation. We need quasi-budget federation as well," he told a meeting of the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee on Tuesday (30 November).

At the time of the launch of the single currency, many sceptical analysts warned that monetary union without fiscal union would inevitably result in centrifugal tendencies that would blow the euro apart, a position long rubbished by most EU leaders after the single currency's initial success. However, in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis, imbalances within the eurozone are forcing a rethink of the situation. Mr Trichet's words were some of the strongest comments yet by a European leader along these lines.

"We could achieve that if there is strong monitoring and supervision of what there is," he continued. "Because what exists doesn't correspond with the actual situation that we are facing. It is a situation where we need quasi-federation of the budget." (...) "I would say, by the way, that pundits are tending to underestimate the determination of governments and the determination of the college that makes up the eurogroup, and indeed the 27-member state council." (...) >>>

Dec. 3, 2010
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Going berserk over Irish default - there you are! The problem in a nutshell -

Zero Hedge: "Europe Goes "Completely Mad" At Suggestion Of Irish Default Demanded By 57% Of Irish Population"

Today the myth of a popular, democratic government in Ireland collapsed for good. After an impromptu poll of 500 people nationwide found that a "substantial majority" of the people, or 57%, wants the State to default on debts to bondholder, what it ended up getting was precisely the opposite. Why? "Last night that the Irish delegation negotiating with the EU-IMF last week raised the issue of default. "The Europeans went completely mad," a senior government source said."

Of course, this is a reason for the Europeans not to want an Irish default, not for the Irish. And last time we checked, the Irish government represented its people, not the interests of Brussels. As America showed all too well, we expect every banker in the world to threaten perpetual damnation for Ireland should they decide on doing what is right for its people (and so very wrong for another year of record banker bonuses). Then again, with elections in Ireland imminent, it is almost certain that there will be a massive popular overhaul of the government, and all bets at that point will be off whether the ECB can dictate terms to a brand new, and far more loyal, government. (...) >>>
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Dangerous people  - Read also the preceding entry on this subject of dangerous neototalitarians, Hegelians and statists -

PJM: "“Just who the hell do you think you people are?” Nigel Farage poses an excellent question. We’re still waiting for the answer . . .", by Roger Kimball

(...) The problem is, Mr. Farage pointed out, that people all over Europe are waking up and saying “we don’t want this, we don’t want [the EU] flag, we don’t want the anthem, we don’t this political class, we want the whole thing consigned to the dust bin of history.”

And the response by the EU bureaucrats who run things? Well, Ireland was told that it would be inappropriate from them to have a general election; they had to agree on a budget first. Mr. Farage had the perfect response to this effrontery: “Just who the hell do you think you people are? You are very, very dangerous people indeed. Your obsession with creating this Euro state means that you are happy to destroy democracy.”

Mr. Farage got it in right: the political crisis facing Europe may be exacerbated by the domino-like collapse of the economies of the member states. But the critical issue is the future of democracy, i.e., the future of freedom. It is “more serious than economics,” Mr. Farage argued, “because if you rob people of their identity, if you rob them of democracy, then all they are left with is nationalism and violence. I can only hope and pray that the Euro project is destroyed by the markets before that really happens.” (...) >>>

Nov. 28, 2010
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Euro zone meltdown -



Mail Online: "So who's next for financial meltdown?"

Spain, Portugal and Belgium set to follow Ireland into abyss as debt crisis threatens to destroy the euro. New fears have been raised about the future of the euro with the domino effect of faltering economies spreading today. The latest nation to get sucked into the crisis is Belgium after market traders pushed the cost of insuring the country's debt to record levels.

The rising cost of Belgium's debt is now 100 per cent of annual national income. That is raising concerns the country could join Portugal, Spain and Italy on the growing list of countries that could be heading for a financial crisis along with stricken Ireland. The eurozone was dealt a further blow yesterday after Portuguese and Spanish borrowing costs rose sharply (...) >>>

Nov. 25, 2010
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Brits, we told ya so!

Daily Telegraph: "The horrible truth starts to dawn on Europe's leaders", by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

The entire European Project is now at risk of disintegration, with strategic and economic consequences that are very hard to predict. In a speech this morning, EU President Herman Van Rompuy (poet, and writer of Japanese and Latin verse) warned that if Europe’s leaders mishandle the current crisis and allow the eurozone to break up, they will destroy the European Union itself.

“We’re in a survival crisis. We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone, because if we don’t survive with the euro zone we will not survive with the European Union,” he said.
Well, well. This theme is all too familiar to readers of The Daily Telegraph, but it comes as something of a shock to hear such a confession after all these years from Europe’s president. (...)

My own view is that the EU became illegitimate when it refused to accept the rejection of the European Constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005. There can be no justification for reviving the text as the Lisbon Treaty and ramming it through by parliamentary procedure without referenda, in what amounted to an authoritarian Putsch.(...)

Ireland was the one country forced to hold a vote by its constitutional court. When this lonely electorate also voted no, the EU again disregarded the result and intimidated Ireland into voting a second time to get it “right”. This is the behaviour of a proto-Fascist organization, so if Ireland now – by historic irony, and in condign retribution – sets off the chain-reaction that destroys the eurozone and the European Union, it will be hard to resist the temptation of opening a bottle of Connemara whisky and enjoying the moment. But resist one must. The cataclysm will not be pretty. (...) >>>

Nov. 23, 2010
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Ireland, too big to fail - Zero Hedge has the "Full Text Of Irish Government Bailout Statement", by Tyler Durden