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AFP - Europe has three months to save the euro, billionaire investor George Soros said this weekend amid global pressure to end eurozone turmoil rocking financial markets and creating deep economic uncertainty. "In my judgment, the authorities have a three months' window during which they could correct their mistakes and reverse the current trends," Soros said Saturday at an economics festival in Trento, Italy, naming those authorities as Germany and the Bundesbank. "In a crisis, the creditors are in the driver's seat and nothing can be done without German support," he said, noting that public opposition to austerity in the...

The True Finn Party in Finland has broken through the left-liberal consensus to take second place in the polls, reminding voters that Finland is not just a geographical area but a country defined by language, culture, and history, a country that has been defended at great cost against the Soviet desire to absorb it and which is now, thanks to the European Union, being robbed of its savings in order to replenish the pockets of Mediterranean kleptocrats. Finns have revealed that they don’t like being manipulated by political elites outside the country. They want to show the world that Finland...

The head of Greece’s Radical Left Coalition, whose strong gains in last month’s elections deepened concerns over his country’s future in the European single currency, vowed Friday to cancel Greece’s international bailout agreement if he wins an upcoming repeat ballot. Alexis Tsipras, whose Syriza party came second in the inconclusive May 6 polls, said there was no way to partially implement the terms of the bailout that the heavily indebted country has come to rely on to pay its way.

The 17-nation eurozone's unemployment rate reached the highest level since the creation of the common currency 13 years ago, climbing to 11% in April as employers slashed 110,000 jobs. The unemployment rate in the broader 27-nation area that makes up the European Union rose to 10.3% in April, as employers trimmed 102,000 jobs from their payrolls. That was highest EU unemployment rate on records that go back to 2000. There were 24.7 million unemployed in the EU in April, of whom 17.4 million were in the eurozone. Both figures are far above the 12.5 million unemployed in the United States,...

Staying in the eurozone will mean that the country will be lorded over by bankster operatives. They will provide enough money to keep the country alive, but they will also demand allegiance to their plans of "austerity", which will mean more cuts in government services, higher taxes and better tax collection methods. It won't be pleasant for anyone in Greece. ... But there is a better alternative . That alternative is for Greece to leave the eurozone and return to the drachma. Here's how this could be done in a way that could put Greece on its way to a...

Crisis is the watchword in Madrid. Take your pick - liquidity crisis, debt crisis, banking crisis, economic crisis, confidence crisis, investor crisis, jobless crisis. Spain, the ailing euro zone's latest problem child, has them all. After weeks insisting that one of the country's biggest banks, Bankia, did not need fresh funds, ministers dropped the bombshell last Friday that there was a 23-billion-euro hole in the accounts. They have yet to explain clearly how they will find the money when they are already struggling to finance a spiraling national debt. The effect of the Bankia news on fragile financial markets was...

(Reuters) - If Greece left the euro, living standards would plummet, incomes would be slashed by more than half, and inflation and unemployment would skyrocket, the National Bank of Greece warned on Tuesday. In a report released ahead of an election on June 17 that may determine whether the country stays in the single currency, the country's biggest bank said the risk of Athens exiting the euro was no longer just a theoretical possibility, warning that the fallout from such a move would be dramatic. "An exit from the euro would lead to a significant decline in the living standards...

Oil rose above $107 per barrel on Monday as fears of a euro zone break-up receded but Middle East oil supply worries resurfaced after minimal progress in talks over Iran's nuclear programme. Opinion polls suggested Greece's pro-bailout conservatives could win elections on June 17, keeping the country in the euro zone and making a swift collapse of the currency bloc less likely. Fears of a war in the Gulf that could threaten global oil supplies have returned after world powers failed to convince Iran last week to halt its most sensitive nuclear work. Tension between Iran and the West remains...

MADRID (Reuters) - BFA, the parent group of nationalized Spanish bank Bankia (BKIA.MC: Quote), said on Monday it had restated its 2011 results to reflect a 3.3 billion euro loss, rather than a 41 million euro profit, following a bailout from the state.

Euro-zone Crisis Will Hit Russia Hard Economics / Russia May 28, 2012 - 07:38 AM By: Pravda The political collapse in Greece and Moody's downgrade of the rankings of 16 Spanish banks at once have led to the decline in stock indexes all over the world. In Russia, the head of the Central Bank, Sergei Ignatiev, showed an optimistic reaction to such unpleasant news. Making a speech at the government last week, the official urged everyone not to panic. According to him, Russia is prepared to the crisis much better than it was four years ago. Economists say, though, that...

France's new president, François Hollande, has put the German chancellor on the defensive with his growth agenda. Now Angela Merkel is planning to strike back. She is calling for structural reforms to save the euro with a six-point plan aimed at harmonizing austerity and growth in Europe once again. The more European leaders talked at a dinner last Wednesday, the grimmer Angela Merkel looked. One after another, they spoke out in favor of the joint assumption of debt and against the strict austerity course Berlin is calling for. The chancellor stared silently at the man who was responsible for this...

Fianna Fáil's infamous bank guarantee was as much about other European countries as it was about Ireland, the party admitted today. Party leader Micheál Martin has said for the first time that Irish taxpayers were left with a €34-billion ($42.6 billion) bill for basket case Anglo Irish Bank because the Government felt pressure to save the currency. "We did it for the euro," he told the Herald. The admission is unlikely to sit easy with the public, who have been hit with constant austerity since October 2008. But Martin said today that the other eurozone countries "owe Ireland". However, he...

This week everyone is talking about the possible Greek exit from the euro and the apparently appealing idea of "why not Spain?". Let's press the reset button and start over. The Greek state, which has more public employees than Spain with four times fewer inhabitants, wasted bailout after bailout and continues delaying reforms, saying that "they'll come, be patient". And now, some demand breaking the agreement-yes-after having accepted the money. One thing is to belong to the European club with its obligations and rights, and another is to demand to participate only for the party and not to collect the...

Euro-zone Politicians Polishing The Brass On The Titanic Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis May 22, 2012 - 06:09 AM By: Graham Summers France and other, weaker EU members have begun pushing for “growth.” This in of itself reveals how clueless the political elite in the EU are (economic growth in Europe is synonymous with living beyond one’s means and/or living off of others… the very policies that have lead to the EU Crisis). Indeed, this shift from focusing on austerity to growth is really just a switch from one side of a coin to the other… without actually addressing the...

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Europe on Monday to strengthen its defenses against financial market turmoil and recapitalize its banks as part of a four-pronged strategy for tackling the eurozone crisis. European leaders have shown an increased resolve to address these issues, and there is a "consensus across the board" from France, Germany and other European countries, Obama said in remarks that suggest Europe is considering broadening its approach to resolving the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. … World leaders are growing increasingly alarmed that the budget austerity approach favored by Germany threatens to drive Greece from the eurozone and...

Angela Merkel Stands Firm On Greece At G8 Talks After inconclusive discussions, leaders issue communique saying 'the right measures are not the same for each of us' Patrick Wintour 20 May 2012 Angela Merkel has declined to shift position on fresh measures to stimulate demand in the euro area, including the idea of eurobonds, leaving other EU countries hoping she will adopt a more conciliatory mood when the EU heads of government meet on Wednesday for the next round of discussions. Barack Obama left the German chancellor in no doubt that he would like to see her adopt a less...

CAMP DAVID, Md. — Leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations opened the door Saturday to more government spending in Europe as way to revive the continent’s struggling economy, shifting away from the idea that the surest way to recovery was through strict fiscal austerity. Meeting at the Group of Eight summit at Camp David, President Obama and his fellow leaders said they were committed foremost to creating jobs and growth, a shift, at least in emphasis, from previous gatherings dominated by German efforts to reduce high government debt through drastic fiscal reform. In a joint statement, the leaders of eight...

In Athens, the homeless are on the streets in growing numbers, soup kitchens feed twice as many people as a year ago, and the poor are diving into garbage bins in search of scrap they can sell. Greece is close to breaking point as it struggles with austerity targets set by creditors, but this is just a foretaste of the nightmare of unrest, hunger and even anarchy that could engulf the debt-crippled nation if it is forced out of the euro. If the exact economic impact of such a move is hard to nail down - newly issued drachmas devalued...

For years now, Greeks have been bombarded with warnings about the dire consequences of leaving the euro, and never more so than since the recent, indecisive election that left the country saddled with a caretaker government. But those pronouncements seem to be falling on increasingly deaf ears, and for one simple reason, as one woman explained as she stood in central Syntagma Square: “We have nothing to lose,” she said. “We have no fear.”

Europe's debt-mired southern rim is becoming increasingly concerned by the prospect of anarchy on the streets this summer, as seething anti-austerity threatens to boil over into something more sinister. Protests, strikes and sit-ins have long since become the norm for Greece, Italy and Spain. But some authorities are warning that rage is on the verge of tipping over into serious violence, and concerns are mounting over the knock-on effect on tourism, a vital source of income for southern Europe.

The head of Greece's radical left party—throwing down a gauntlet that could increase tensions between Greece and its frustrated European creditors—said he sees little chance Europe will cut off funding to the country but that if it does, Athens will stop paying its debts. A financial collapse in Greece would drag down the rest of the euro zone, said Alexis Tsipras, the 37-year-old head of the Coalition of the Radical Left, known as Syriza, and potentially the country's next prime minister. Instead, he said, Europe must consider a more growth-oriented policy to arrest Greece's spiraling recession and address what he

A €1billion run on a recently nationalised Spanish bank has sparked further fears that the 17-nation eurozone is about to implode. European markets fell as fears of a continent-wide contagion from goverment-less Greece's economic crisis also spread. Shares in Bankia, Spain's fourth biggest bank formed in 2010 through a merger of seven struggling regional savings institutions, today plummeted by 27 per cent.

As Greece teeters on the edge of financial collapse, European officials have a new task before them: preventing the financial turmoil from spreading across the continent, across the Atlantic and around the rest of the world. The fear is that Greece’s financial turmoil could spread beyond its borders despite European efforts to create a “financial firewall” to contain it. “The spillover effects, the chain of consequences are very difficult to assess,” said International Monetary Fund President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday. “We can certainly assume that it would be quite messy.”

The European Central Bank has stopped monetary policy operations with some Greek banks as they have not been successfully recapitalised, euro zone central bank sources said on Wednesday. The ECB declined to comment. The ECB only conducts its refinancing operations with solvent banks. With no access to ECB funds, the banks concerned must go to the Bank of Greece for emergency liquidity assistance (ELA).

… Documents from the Kohl administration, kept confidential until now, indicate that the euro's founding fathers were well aware of its deficits. And that they pushed ahead with the project regardless. In response to a request by Spiegel, the German government has, for the first time, released hundreds of pages of documents from 1994 to 1998 on the introduction of the euro and the inclusion of Italy in the eurozone. They include reports from the German embassy in Rome, internal government memos and letters, and hand-written minutes of the chancellor's meetings. The documents prove what was only assumed until now:...

An online travel company has advised worried holidaymakers to 'get rid' of their Greek euros in case the crisis-hit country leaves the single currency. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded for the first time that Greece could be forced to quit the euro, DialAFlight warned travelers that their Greek euro notes could become worthless. However, while some experts predict that Greece could leave the single currency within weeks, there has been no official acknowledgement that their euro notes would become worthless. The blog post on the company's website—which has since been removed—was advising Britons to check the origin of their...

ATHENS—Greek depositors withdrew €700 million ($898 million) from local banks Monday, the country's president said, as he warned that the situation facing Greece's lenders was very difficult.

Greece will hold a new election in June after days of talks failed to resolve the country's political deadlock, party leaders said Tuesday. The Athens Stock Exchange plunged on the news, diving 4.86 percent minutes after the announcement before recovering somewhat. The May 6 election left no party with enough votes for a majority in parliament and repeated efforts over nine days to cobble together a coalition government proved fruitless.

Will Obama learn from Sweden? Will he learn from Canada? Or will he cling to the European socialist economic model that is currently failing? Sweden Anders Borg, Sweden's finance minister, reduced Sweden's deficit and created economic growth. There is one thing that Borg did: "Since becoming Sweden's finance minister, Borg reduced the size of government and cut taxes. His 'stimulus' was a permanent tax cut." Canada Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Forbes magazine selected Canada as the No. 1 country in the world in which to do business. Forbes stated, "Credit a reformed tax structure." On New Year's...

The situation in the eurozone has become so bleak that it is giving rise to the most improbable rumors. The latest to make the rounds of European hedge fund managers suggests that the euro will be tied to the dollar at close to parity, a dramatic fall from its current level of just under $1.30 and one that would involve the printing of hundreds of billions of euros. However unlikely, the speculation is an indication of Europe’s plight in a world with little growth and every government looking at exports as a way to grow. A cheap currency giving an...

Despite belated gestures from Berlin, the single currency cannot survive if and when Greece leaves it. Greece’s motorcycling Marxist, Alexis Tsipras, makes an unlikely champion, with his commuter leathers and largely unrealistic Left-wing views, but he seems to be about the best of a bad bunch right now. As far as I can see, he’s the only member of the Greek political class who makes any kind of sense, albeit only marginally so and with one rather important deficiency. Rightly, he’s rejected Berlin’s austerity programme as “barbaric” and counter-productive (though, incongruously, he rides to parliament on a German-made BMW), but...

The election of Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande to the presidency of France epitomizes the sorry state of contemporary democracy. By that, I don’t mean to imply that the French people should have voted for the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy. Neither would be capable of solving France’s intractable problems in a way acceptable to French voters, nor are the problems with democracy unique to France. To varying degrees they exist throughout Europe as well as here in the United States. The first problem is: widespread economic illiteracy. Hollande campaigned on a platform of economic growth and expanded job creation, to be...

Leftist leader Alexis Tsipras gave up his attempt to form a new government on Wednesday, pushing Greece closer to its second election in a few weeks, after voter rejection of an EU/IMF bailout plunged the country into crisis. Last Sunday's election, in which voters vented rage against mainstream parties over debt cutting measures imposed in exchange for the bailout, has caused deep political deadlock and brought European threats to eject Greece from the euro.

Just weeks ago, the idea that Greece would leave the euro zone was almost unthinkable. Now, with Greece’s newly empowered political parties refusing to abide by the terms of the country’s international loan agreement and Europe’s leaders talking tough, that outcome is looking increasingly likely. Germany’s devotion to the euro and the European Union runs extremely deep and cuts across the political spectrum. But the frustration with Greece here is undeniable. There is a growing conviction that it is up to Greece to follow through on its commitments, that Europe is done negotiating.

A successful eurozone requires a single government if it is to work properly, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday. "There's nowhere in the world that has a single currency without having more of a single government," Cameron told Britain's Daily Mail. "Making sense of the euro for me would mean that those eurozone countries would have to have much more coordinated economic policy, much more coordinated debt policy," he said. Cameron, who opted out of a new European economic pact late last year, advocated Britain's position outside the euro and its ability "to do...

The political dam has broken in Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel no longer has enough allies in the club of EU prime ministers to impose her hairshirt agenda. Her methodical plans are disintegrating on every front. For Germany it is a moment of truth. Berlin has put off hard choices since the crisis began The immediate fate of Greece - and the euro - is in the hands of a boyish motorcycle Marxist. Syriza leader deal Alexis Tsipras has vowed to tear up the hated Memorandum, as the EU-IMF "troika" loan package is known. He showed no sign of backing...

Europe was plunged into fresh economic chaos last night as France rejected austerity and elected a tax-and-spend socialist president. Nicolas Sarkozy suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Francois Hollande, who ran on a platform of tearing up last December’s controversial deal to save the euro from oblivion. The inexperienced Mr Hollande is now seeking talks with the European Central Bank and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to demand further borrowing to boost growth. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140427/Francois-Hollande-victory-French-presidential-election-spell-disaster-Euro.html#ixzz1u8xkQvsA

(Reuters) - The euro tanked on Monday, breaking below its well-worn range from the past three months against the dollar after elections in Greece and France raised fresh concerns that the euro zone's hard-earned bailout and austerity steps could fall apart. In particular, the apparent failure of two pro-bailout ruling parties in Greece to win a majority in the parliament is throwing the future of the bailout scheme for the country into doubt. With 95 percent of votes counted, the conservative New Democracy (ND) and socialist PASOK, who have dominated Greece for decades, is seen falling short of the 151-seat...

(Reuters) - Risk assets fell broadly on Monday after elections in Greece and France fuelled questions about whether struggling euro zone economies will continue to pursue austerity measures which are seen by markets as crucial to resolving the bloc's debt crisis. U.S. stock futures were down 1.1 percent, indicating a big drop for MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares. Japan's Nikkei stock average is expected to open sharply lower on Monday. "Austerity will not work to solve Europe's debt crisis. However shifting austerity to higher earners and business will accelerate the debt crisis," said Jeff Sica, president of SICA Wealth...

(CNNMoney) -- Spain has fallen into its second recession since 2009 as its economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter, according to a government report Monday. There are now a dozen European nations that have had their economies shrink for two consecutive quarters, a condition that generally equates to a recession. The Spanish economy, struggling with the aftermath of the bursting of a housing bubble, has been particularly hard hit by the economic turmoil rolling across Europe. On Friday, the government reported that Spain's unemployment rate hit record high of 24.4%.

(Reuters) - Thousands of people protested across Spain on Sunday against government cuts aimed at tackling a debt crisis that has pushed the country back into recession and sent unemployment close to 25 percent. Protesters closed central parts of the capital Madrid on a wet Sunday to protest against cuts to education and health services the government says must be made to help slash the public deficit. Many people waved labour union flags and held banners against the cuts to the country's prized healthcare system that will add to medicine costs, and to its education budget, which will increase the...

Spain will restore border controls to France on Saturday, during a summit of European Central Bank (ECB) to be held on 3 May in Barcelona, said Monday the Ministry of Interior. The measure, which will run until next May 4, will involve the temporary suspension of the Schengen Agreement on free movement of citizens among the 27 European Union countries. According to the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy, the land boundaries with France will be reinforced at the border of La Jonquera, Port Bou, Puigcerdá, Camprodon, Les and Canfranc and air borders of Girona and Barcelona airports. The Schengen Agreement...

Spain Is An Absolute Disaster Interest-Rates / Eurozone Debt Crisis Apr 22, 2012 - 06:51 AM By: Graham Summers Well the financial world is awash with reports that the Spanish auctions went well. They did not. And you better believe the ECB and other Central Banks were involved in the buying. Instead, Wall Street is using the auction (and just about every other announcement this morning) to shred and those who sold calls in their usual options expiration games. This has been the norm for years, but the mainstream financial media continues to find “fundamental” excuses for market action that...

Anyone anxiously waiting for the European Union’s death knell could do worse than circle May 6 on his calendar. That’s when Greece, a nation brought to its knees by an unprecedented economic crisis, is scheduled to hold what promises to be a turbulent parliamentary election. It’s an open question whether Europe’s fragile political balance—and Greece’s tenuous hold on membership in the Eurozone—will survive the subsequent aftershocks. What’s already clear is that life in Greece will never quite be the same.

MADRID (AP) — Spain should consider making richer people pay for their universal health coverage, the country's economy minister said Monday in another reflection of a government scraping and clawing for new sources of revenue. The ruling party quickly disavowed him, saying the official was only expressing a personal opinion. Spain should mull the idea of making people who earn more than €100,000 ($130,000) a year pay for state-administered health care that is financed with taxpayer money. Few people earn that much in Spain, where the average salary is about €20,000 a year, and many make even less. The unemployment...

Wait until German shoppers feel the eurozone crisis in their pockets Faced with execution today or execution tomorrow, most people would choose the latter option. Who knows what might happen in between – an amnesty might be declared, the executioner might die. Hope springs eternal. This way of thinking has come to instruct European attitudes to the euro. Everyone now accepts that the euro hasn't worked out as hoped, but they would rather have it all breakup at some point in the future than face the immediate pain of having it breakup now. It seems unlikely, but you never know,...

Greece has cleared another hurdle as it struggles to avoid default, going through with its highly controversial debt restructuring (dubbed PSI), and effectively forcing the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) to rule, along with credit rating agencies, that the Hellenic Republic has indeed defaulted. This has paved the way for Greece to receive a second, €130 billion, bailout, while triggering CDS protection on its defaulted bonds. Friday was a chaotic, headline heavy day for those following Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Greece confirmed that it had achieved an 85.8% participation rate on its debt exchange, which would allow the government...

What if the euro crisis were merely a devilish experiment set up by a gigantic computer disguised as Planet Earth? The Berlin cabaret artist Horst Evers runs though the euro crisis – but by the rules of Douglas Adams’ alternative universe. And he finds the human race isn’t quite up to their job. In Douglas Adams' novel “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, the Earth is a kind of gigantic computer built by a higher intelligence to ponder the eternal questions of the universe. This higher, extra-terrestrial intelligence is therefore constantly setting up tricky and complex experiments to test mankind’s...

Brussels - What ails Europe? That was the title of Monday's missive from Paul Krugman, in which he argued that the perceived value and stability of the euro caused an inflow of capital during the past decade, driving up prices and making European goods uncompetitive. A nice thesis - but almost completely wrong. What actually ails Europe is bloated government bureaucracy, over-regulation, and unfunded pension and healthcare obligations. Meanwhile the problem with the euro is not, as Krugman further asserts, that it is too much like a gold standard, but that it is too little like gold. The centrepiece of...

Athens has launched the biggest sovereign bond restructuring in history to cut its debt by €107bn (£91bn) – amid warnings from Germany that even if it were successful, there were “no guarantees” Greece could be rescued. The Hellenic Ministry of Finance on Friday released the highly anticipated offer document, firing the starting gun on a colossal effort to find Greek bondholders and persuade them to participate in a €206bn debt swap. Athens needs bondholders to agree to the deal within days as part of its effort to unlock the €130bn bail-out funds needed to avert default on March 20. Wolfgang...