Relief, but little hope, At last there is a Greek government, but it faces immense problems, Jun 23rd 2012 | ATHENS | from the print edition, The Economist, http://www.economist.com/node/21557383
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That Greece has a government at all is due to New Democracy’s better-than-expected performance in the June 17th election. It won 29.7% of the vote to 26.9% for Syriza, the radical left coalition led by 37-year-old Alexis Tsipras, a brash new political star whose claim that Greece could renegotiate its latest €130 billion ($164 billion) bail-out yet stay in the euro appealed to many voters. The PanHellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) finished a distant third with 12.3%.
With 129 seats, New Democracy is much the biggest party in the 300-member parliament (thanks to an electoral law that gives the front-runner an extra 50 seats). By teaming up with Pasok’s 33 members and another 17 from Democratic Left, it will have a comfortable majority of 179 seats. Syriza has 71 seats in an otherwise fragmented house. Independent Greeks, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn and the Greek communist party each have a handful of deputies.
Pour l'Allemagne, la Grèce doit arrêter de demander de l'aide, Par Les Echos | 24/06 | 19:43, Les Echos, http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-poli...ide-337043.php
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Le gouvernement grec va demander un délai supplémentaire de deux ans, jusqu'en 2016, pour ramener le déficit budgétaire à 2,1% du produit intérieur brut (PIB). Il était de 9,3% en 2011. Ce nouveau délai coûterait 16 à 20 milliards d'euros supplémentaires en terme de financement international. « La balle est maintenant dans le camp de la Grèce », a ajouté Wolfgang Schäuble. « C'est à eux de regagner la confiance des populations en Europe. Ils n'y arriveront qu'avec des actes et des mesures concrets. »
Selon un sondage réalisé auprès de 4.000 personnes en Allemagne, en France, en Espagne et en Italie, 78% des allemands, 65% des Français, 51% des Espagnols et 49% des Italiens souhaitent une sortie de la Grèce de la zone euro. Une grande majorité dans les quatre pays, qui représentent 254 millions d'habitants, s'attend à ce que la Grèce ne rembourse jamais ses créanciers internationaux. « Ce sondage montre deux choses », a indiqué le ministre allemand. « Une majorité écrasante est en faveur de l'euro (...) et deuxièmement il montre à quel point la Grèce à perdu la confiance des Européens. »
Una operación del primer ministro griego retrasa el calendario de la austeridad, Actualizado domingo 24/06/2012 14:15 horas, El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/0...340527443.html
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El nuevo gobierno griego, salido de las urnas del 17 de junio y formado la semana pasada, inicia su actividad obstaculizado por problemas de salud de su primer ministro y del designado titular de Finanzas, que impedirán a ambos asistir a la cumbre de la UE el 28 y 29 próximos.
Left bankers, A Socialist landslide, but trouble looms ahead, Jun 23rd 2012 | PARIS | from the print edition, The Economist, http://www.economist.com/node/21557386
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OVER the past two months the French have been called to the polls four times: for two rounds of presidential voting, followed by two for parliament. On June 17th, at the fourth and last of these, voter turnout, perhaps unsurprisingly, reached a record low. But the result was far better than François Hollande could have hoped for. The French president’s Socialist Party took 314 parliamentary seats, well above the 289 it needed to secure a governing majority by itself.
This gives Mr Hollande a free hand to govern as he sees fit, without the need to turn either to the Greens, who took 17 seats, or to the Left Front, led by the fiery Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which got just ten. He has secured a bigger majority than those won by the Socialists in 1997 and 1988, although still short of the sweeping result achieved after François Mitterrand was elected president in 1981. The new parliament will be younger, more feminine and more ethnically diverse than the old one, which was dominated by grey hair and suits. Some 40% of deputies are first-timers.
Liste des sénateurs par groupes politiques, http://www.senat.fr/senateurs/grp.html
General election in France, http://www.elections-legislatives.fr/en/home.asp
Why Mario Monti needs to speak truth to power, WOLFGANG MUNCHAU, June 24, 2012 6:41 pm, Financial Times, www.ft.com
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Just imagine it is this Thursday evening in the European Council’s gathering of Europe’s heads of state, and the Italian prime minister stands up and says this: “Mr President, dear colleagues. We are confronted with a simple choice: we can today either save the euro and build the foundation for a future political union, or we could flunk it and achieve neither. We all know what we need to do to save the euro. We require a banking union for Spain, a fiscal union for Italy and a political union for Germany.
“We can, of course, disagree on details. But we have to settle some of these differences this weekend, and take a decision on the steps that are needed right now. Our crisis resolution policies have failed time and again. We now need something that works fast. If we fail, I can assure you that I can no longer be part of this group, and my country can no longer be part of this project.”
Let me say first of all that I do not really expect Mario Monti to say such a thing, not even a more cryptic version. He is the leader of a technical government. His job is to fix things. Standing up to the German chancellor – grandstanding as some people might call it – let alone wagering Italy’s future is not part of his remit. Italy’s political parties appointed him because they needed a plumber to succeed the playboy, not a gambler. The last thing they wanted was a leader.
Berlusconi fällt Abschied schwer, NZZ, http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/internatio...wer-1.17276928
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Dem früheren italienischen Ministerpräsidenten Silvio Berlusconi, der im vergangenen November unter dem Druck der Schuldenkrise und immer peinlicherer Skandale zurücktreten musste, scheint der endgültige Abschied von der Politik weiterhin schwerzufallen. Wie hiesige Medien am Wochenende berichteten, soll der «Cavaliere» am Freitag während eines Jugendtreffens seiner Partei Popolo della Libertà (PdL) die Ambition bekundet haben, der künftige «Anführer der gemässigten Italiener» zu sein. Der «Cavaliere» soll etwa ausgerufen haben, «gebt mir 51 Prozent der Stimmen und ich werde unser Land aus der Krise führen». Zudem habe er die Schuld an seinem Scheitern Bundeskanzlerin Merkel zugeschoben; sie habe verhindert, dass die Europäische Zentralbank wie das amerikanische Federal Reserve funktioniere.
EU Ministers Clear Way For Transaction Tax In Some States, By Rebecca Christie, Zoe Schneeweiss and Rainer Buergin - Jun 22, 2012 10:58 AM MT, Bloomberg News, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...me-states.html
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European Union finance ministers cleared the way for a financial-transaction tax to move forward in at least nine member states after Austria said deadlock among all 27 could threaten the euro area’s rescue fund.
The European Commission’s tax proposal “does not, as required, have unanimous support,” Danish Economy Minister Margrethe Vestager, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said during a meeting in Luxembourg. Now that an impasse has been acknowledged, a smaller group of as few as nine nations can propose to coordinate a tax among themselves.
Germany and Austria today said a transaction tax needs to move forward in some form so their lawmakers will approve the the 500 billion-euro ($627 billion) European Stability Mechanism for it to start July 9 as planned. Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter urged nations to sign up to the next steps.
Maria Fekter, Wikipedia, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Fekter
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Maria Theresia Fekter (* 1. Februar 1956 in Attnang-Puchheim) ist eine österreichische Politikerin (ÖVP) und österreichische Finanzministerin.
ECB Said To Relax Requirements For Mortgage-Backed Collateral, By Jeff Black - Jun 21, 2012 2:54 PM MT, Bloomberg News, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...ollateral.html
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The European Central Bank will relax some rules on the collateral that banks can offer in exchange for ECB funds, said a central bank official.
The Frankfurt-based central bank’s Governing Council decided yesterday to lower the minimum rating threshold for mortgage-backed securities to BBB- from A-, said the official, who declined to be identified because the discussions were private. Spanish banks have been unable to use some securities as collateral because the rating is too low, the person said.
Banks Need ‘Push’ To Avoid Prolonging Crisis, BIS Says, By Boris Groendahl - Jun 24, 2012 8:00 AM MT, Bloomberg News, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...-bis-says.html
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“Public policy must move banks to adopt business models that are less risky, more sustainable and more clearly in the public interest,” the BIS said in the report. “Governments can give the banking sector a healthy push in this direction if officials make sure that newly agreed regulations are implemented universally and without delay.”