Posted on 01/07/2012 12:36:24 AM PST by bruinbirdman
Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti will meet France's President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on Friday as pressure mounts on two of the biggest but most fragile economies in the debt-wracked eurozone.
Nervous European banks parked 455bn in the safe haven of the European Central Bank overnight - a new record - preferring to earn low interest rather than take the risk lending to each other.
Bank shares in France and Italy continued to fall as worries about the eurozone debt crisis resurfaced.
The effects of the crisis on the real economy have deepened, with official figures on Friday showing that eurozone unemployment remained at an all-time record of 10.3pc for the second month running in November.
France has yet to face the same soaring interest rates as its southern neighbours, but its Triple-A debt rating is under the imminent threat of a downgrade as bond markets lose faith in EU financial reform plans.
Mr Monti rattled markets with an unannounced visit to Brussels on Thursday before moving on to Paris on Friday, and he is due to see Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin next week to prepare for a January 30 EU summit.
After the talks in Paris, Mr Monti and Mr Sarkozy are to make a joint statement that will be keenly awaited by markets, anxious for a sign that the single currency bloc is uniting around a credible deficit-reduction plan.
"It's not France being targeted, it's 15 of 17 members of the eurozone," ratings agency Standard and Poor's chief European economist Jean-Michel Six told the daily Le Parisien when asked about France's Triple-A.
"The problem more than anything is the way the eurozone functions, which leaves a lot to be desired," he said.
The Paris talks came as IMF director Christine Lagarde warned
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Haven’t they ‘solved’ the Euro crisis about six times in the last two months?
Funny how this “safe haven” caused the very crisis that we’re going through in the first place.
Monti’s just checking in for his orders, then back to the grind.
Any day now, France’s AAA will disappear and we will be in a whole new chapter.
Good point.
It seems like Sarkozy has told the world that the game is over when France is spanked.
Then, again, Sarkozy also said there would be war if the teurdo fails.
yitbos
Are you seeing highlighted text embedded in the threads...that are hyplerlinks to ads. You know, the kind that when you mouse goes across them an advertisement pops up on your screen supposedely related to the word you mouse scrolled over?
I have this crap showing up and I can’t figure out if it is something that got put onto my computer or if FR has a new ad revenue generation technique
For instance “interest rates” and “unemployment” are red scripted hyperlinks in the body of this thread. There are others in people’s posts too.
I think this is why they are meeting Monday. The only way to save it is bringing defecits down dramatically. When this can’t be done with many, they will start throwing countries overboard.
No, not me.
No, not me.
Thanks...I think I picked up some adware/spyware...gotta reset my computer to a few weeks ago to make it go away.
No hyperlinks on my page, if that helps.
Thanks bruinbirdman.
The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarters Expenses?
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