Titoli di Stato area Euro GRECIA Operativo titoli di stato - Cap. 1

[tommy271]

Grecia: Fmi, piano distribuisca oneri

Atkinson, i ricchi paghino le tasse

16 dicembre, 19:56



(ANSA) - WASHINGTON, 16 DIC - Le dimostrazioni di piazza di ieri in Grecia 'sono preoccupanti', per questo e' importante che gli oneri vengano distribuiti tra la popolazione.
E' questa la posizione del Fondo Monetario Internazionale (Fmi) espressa da Caroline Atkinson. Confermando che il Board dell'Fmi rivedra' il programma per la Grecia domani, Atkinson ha voluto sottolineare l'importanza che 'ci sia in Grecia una equa distribuzione degli oneri, ossia che i ricchi paghino le tasse'.

 

[tommy271]

Yearender: Second wave of structural reforms vital for Greece to exit crisis



08:57, December 17, 2010



"The year 2011 will be the year of far-reaching structural reforms. It will be the second crucial part in our efforts to lay the foundations of a better country, a better future," said Papandreou.

Regional Development and Competitiveness Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis, who is responsible for a crucial part of efforts to handle the crisis, has also echoed Papandreou's appeal to speed up the tough changes in the near future.

The changes will be wide ranging, including the modernization of deficit-generating healthcare and education systems,tax collection, the partial privatization of non-profitable public utilities and stemming waste in public spending.

This was the first package of reforms the EU and the IMF suggested to Athens to introduce over the medium term to address weaknesses on the fiscal front.

The IMF and the EU provided a bailout package to Athens in May in exchange for full implementation of the austerity and reform plan.

Foreign auditors, who monitored the progress of the plan, will be back in Athens in February to check whether the criteria have been met to release the fourth tranche of aid in March.

They will check whether Greek has delivered a second wave of reforms to restore growth, such as the liberalization of decades-long restricted professions and markets in Greece.

The Greek government agreed to give priority to the labor market reform. A draft bill designed to shrink collective bargaining rights in the private sector is being debated in the Greek parliament this week.

A new development draft bill, which aims to attract more investments, boost exports and increase the liquidity, is due to be sent to the Greek parliament in the coming days.

"It will be a most significant tool of development in times of crisis," Chrysohoidis said while addressing a forum last week.

Apart from the 110 billion euros (145.4 billion dollars) rescue package secured by the EU and the IMF in May, Greece has also been granted a 20 billion euros (26.4 billion dollars) aid package by the EU since 2007 to support its development projects.

But up to now, Greece has only received about 14 percent of the funds due to bureaucratic issues and a lack of co-financing funds.

The Greek government has promised to break with past mistakes and push forward drastic changes in 2011 under the framework of the economic adjustment program.

"Fiscal consolidation will be futile if we do not kick start growth," said Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou.

Senior EU and IMF officials, who have held several rounds of talks with Papandreou and his team in Athens over the past month, have expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far, but warn the second stage of change would be crucial.

Greece was at a crucial crossroads. A string of bold institutional reforms had to be implemented in the following months to pave the way for the growth and job creation, they said.

Noting that the implementation of the second package of reforms would be more like a marathon for the Greek government due to the ongoing reactions by society, analysts said special attention should be paid to the danger of social unrest that could derail the whole program.

They also warned that if the purchasing power of the average Greek household would be further reduced, Greek banks, which so far have withstood pressures, could face more long-due mortgage loans.

As the second part of reforms was set to unfold, the Greek government should keep an eye on all factors which could threaten the sustainability of the plan to exit the crisis, they said.

"The year 2011 will be the year of far-reaching structural reforms. It will be the second crucial part in our efforts to lay the foundations of a better country, a better future," said Papandreou.

Regional Development and Competitiveness Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis, who is responsible for a crucial part of efforts to handle the crisis, has also echoed Papandreou's appeal to speed up the tough changes in the near future.

The changes will be wide ranging, including the modernization of deficit-generating healthcare and education systems,tax collection, the partial privatization of non-profitable public utilities and stemming waste in public spending.

This was the first package of reforms the EU and the IMF suggested to Athens to introduce over the medium term to address weaknesses on the fiscal front.

The IMF and the EU provided a bailout package to Athens in May in exchange for full implementation of the austerity and reform plan.

Foreign auditors, who monitored the progress of the plan, will be back in Athens in February to check whether the criteria have been met to release the fourth tranche of aid in March.

They will check whether Greek has delivered a second wave of reforms to restore growth, such as the liberalization of decades-long restricted professions and markets in Greece.

The Greek government agreed to give priority to the labor market reform. A draft bill designed to shrink collective bargaining rights in the private sector is being debated in the Greek parliament this week.

A new development draft bill, which aims to attract more investments, boost exports and increase the liquidity, is due to be sent to the Greek parliament in the coming days.

"It will be a most significant tool of development in times of crisis," Chrysohoidis said while addressing a forum last week.

Apart from the 110 billion euros (145.4 billion dollars) rescue package secured by the EU and the IMF in May, Greece has also been granted a 20 billion euros (26.4 billion dollars) aid package by the EU since 2007 to support its development projects.

But up to now, Greece has only received about 14 percent of the funds due to bureaucratic issues and a lack of co-financing funds.

The Greek government has promised to break with past mistakes and push forward drastic changes in 2011 under the framework of the economic adjustment program.

"Fiscal consolidation will be futile if we do not kick start growth," said Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou.

Senior EU and IMF officials, who have held several rounds of talks with Papandreou and his team in Athens over the past month, have expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far, but warn the second stage of change would be crucial.

Greece was at a crucial crossroads. A string of bold institutional reforms had to be implemented in the following months to pave the way for the growth and job creation, they said.

Noting that the implementation of the second package of reforms would be more like a marathon for the Greek government due to the ongoing reactions by society, analysts said special attention should be paid to the danger of social unrest that could derail the whole program.

They also warned that if the purchasing power of the average Greek household would be further reduced, Greek banks, which so far have withstood pressures, could face more long-due mortgage loans.

As the second part of reforms was set to unfold, the Greek government should keep an eye on all factors which could threaten the sustainability of the plan to exit the crisis, they said.

(Il Quotidiano del Popolo, Beijing)

 

[tommy271]

Greece can only recover if its debt is restructured, say economists

Experts say a default on Greece's €110bn EU and IMF-sponsored rescue package is inevitable


Nouriel Roubini, the world-renowned economics professor known as Dr Doom, was in Athens last week with a message: the worst of the global financial crisis might be over but for Greece recovery could only occur with an "orderly restructuring" of its huge public debt.

Although he is dismissed by some as a permanent pessimist, his prediction of a Greek default is gaining traction in the EU's most indebted nation. Ahead of today's EU summit, a growing number of Greek financial experts have voiced fears about the sustainability of a debt projected to reach 160% of GDP when the country's €110bn EU and IMF-sponsored rescue package expires in 2013.

• "Whatever Greece does won't be enough," says Theodore Pelagidis, who teaches economic analysis at Piraeus University. "Over the course of the next decade it will be forced to repay about €70bn on average in maturing debt every year. Whatever corrective structural measures it takes [to boost competitiveness] the demands of such colossal repayments will be impossible to meet without sharing at least part of the debt burden with its creditors."
• 
  In public, senior officials deny that the country at the centre of Europe's worst crisis since the creation of the common currency is heading for a sovereign default, unable to refinance its €330bn debt. Seven months after it averted bankruptcy with the biggest bailout in western history, the visiting EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said last week that Athens would see a return to growth "by the end of 2011".
• 
  Restructuring, he said, could be avoided if George Papandreou's socialist government pushed ahead with "substantial" structural reforms and stuck to fiscal targets. To ease the debt, the EU has promised to examine arescheduling repayments beyond 2015 because an extension "would be required".
• 
  But while Rehn, a no-nonsense Finn, also praised the government's "impressive" performance in cutting Greece's budget deficit by six percentage points of GDP this year, local bankers, businessmen and financial advisers increasingly beg to differ. "For the next two years the economy is set to contract and when growth returns it will be anaemic," said one well placed company directorwho preferred not to be named. "You don't have to be an Einstein to see that the figures just don't add up. How are we going to pay our debt when it hits 160% of GDP in an economy that is both shrinking and doesn't produce anything?"
• 
  Competitiveness, say economists, is the key to Greece rebounding. Unlike other deficit countries with heavy debt loads, its economy is stifled by deep-rooted corruption, red tape, rampant tax evasion and an all-pervasive state. For ease of doing business, Greece is ranked by the World Bank at 109th out of 183 nations, below Egypt, Zambia and Uganda.
• 
  "Outside the borders of this country Greeks do well, but inside the system stops them," said the company director. "Here entrepreneurs are viewed as criminals, which is why we have an economy that, bar tourism and shipping, doesn't produce anything."
• 
  Progress in reducing the budget deficit – at 15.4% the highest in Europe – has rested on the €30bn package of austerity measures agreed by Papandreou in return for the emergency aid. The policies, including spending cuts across the public sector, tax increases and painful wage and pension reductions, have spawned violent street demonstrations. Yesterday, as unions staged an seventh general strike in protest at the overhauling of labour laws, rescinding of collective wage agreements and axing of debt at state-run enterprises – reforms the government has rushed through parliament under pressure from the EU and IMF – showed no sign of abating.
• 
  Greece's international creditors say the country is at a crossroads: either it enforces fundamental structural changes or risks endangering its entire fiscal consolidation programme. But with tensions clearly on the rise, speculation is also mounting that a pre-emptive restructuring might be preferable to yet more austerity. Indicative of the mood, Greek banks are recapitalising in an attempt to strengthen balance sheets. "Many people see the option of restructuring as an easy way out," said Stefanos Manos, a national economy minister under a former conservative government. "There's a degree of wishful thinking to it," he told the Guardian.
• 
  Across Europe, officials are acutely aware that any such move would have potentially catastrophic consequences for French, German and British banks. As the main holders of Greek debt, according to the BIS (Bank for International Settlements), lenders in all three states would see huge amounts of capital wiped out overnight if Athens were to announce a debt restructuring. Governments already battling economic recession would be forced to step in with further bailouts, a scenario they are keen to avoid in the current economic climate.
• 
  "The idea of restructuring now or in the foreseeable future – as a means of alleviating social tensions – could have dire implications," said Costas Karagiannis, a leading independent financial adviser. "It would only be manageable should containment provisions be in place, for example within the European Stability Mechanism that is currently being contemplated. As things are turning out, restructuring may not be case-specific to Greece and might eventually have to be reckoned with as a group-therapy measure involving the periphery of Europe."
  
  
  (The Guardian. UK)

 

[tommy271]

Sulla riunione UE:

http://www.corriere.it/economia/10_...to_876f56b0-093a-11e0-a831-00144f02aabc.shtml

 

[tommy271]

Eurobond, Berlusconi: non possono passare ora, ci vuole tempo

venerdì 17 dicembre 2010 07:43



BRUXELLES (Reuters) - L'idea di emissioni di debito comuni "non può passare subito" perché richiede tempo per essere accolta da tutti i Governi della Zona euro.
Lo ha detto ieri a tarda notte il presidente del Consiglio, Silvio Berlusconi, conversando con i cronisti al termine della prima giornata del Consiglio europeo a Bruxelles.
"Abbiamo parlato di Eurobond. È un'idea che non può passare subito. Ci vuole tempo per convincere chi l'ha sentita per la prima volta e ne deve apprezzare la valenza", ha detto Berlusconi.
I cosiddetti Eurobond avrebbero il pregio, secondo alcuni analisti, di rappresentare un deterrente efficace alla speculazione contro singoli Stati. L'idea non piace però alla cancelliera tedesca Angela Merkel: perchè la Germania sostiene che farebbero salire i suoi costi di indebitamento e potrebbero ridurre gli incentivi alla disciplina di bilancio dei Paesi con le finanze pubbliche meno solide.
Obiezioni respinte dal capo del governo italiano, che dice: "Io li comprerei subito al posto dei titoli di un singolo Paese. È l'Europa che dà la garanzia".
"C'è l'opposizione della Merkel ma molti altri sono interessati, anche perché l'Europa deve solo dare le garanzie, i soldi li mettono i privati", ha continuato Berlusconi.

 

[tommy271]

EU to Create Post-2013 Crisis Tool, Spars Over Near-Term Moves

By James G. Neuger and Jonathan Stearns - Dec 17, 2010 8:28 AM GMT+0100 Fri Dec 17 07:28:21 GMT 2010
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg)



European Union leaders agreed to amend the bloc’s treaties to create a permanent crisis- management mechanism in 2013, while divisions flared over steps to prevent concern over debts from engulfing Portugal and Spain.

Germany, the biggest contributor to Europe’s bailouts of Greece and Ireland, pushed through an accord to set up a system that would allow financial aid “if indispensable” to underpin the euro and might force bondholders to bear some of the costs of future rescues.

“Our task now is to hold the course, walk not talk, and prove those wrong who predicted the demise of our common currency,” European Commission President Jose Barroso told reporters after the first session of an EU summit in Brussels late yesterday. The summit is slated to end around 1 p.m. today.

Most European bond markets fell yesterday, as Germany’s refusal to boost the current 750 billion-euro ($1 trillion) emergency fund stirred concern that Europe hasn’t found the right formula for battling the debt crisis that threatens the euro.

Driven by a German public outcry against propping up fiscally reckless countries, Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out putting more money on the table, retooling the support facility enacted after the Greece rescue to enable it to buy troubled governments’ bonds or further entwining Europe’s economies through joint bond sales.

Candid

“Let’s be candid,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in an interview on “Charlie Rose” on PBS. “The European Union needs a little more time, until maybe the beginning of next year, to be able to produce a comprehensive package.”

The euro traded at $1.3292 at 8:15 a.m. in Brussels, compared with $1.3244 yesterday.
While use of the main 440 billion-euro component of the fund to buy distressed countries’ bonds didn’t come up at the summit, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said it will be on the agenda soon.

“We didn’t discuss that in detail,” said Juncker, who heads the panel of euro-area finance ministers. “This will be taken under consideration in the next coming weeks.”

Such a step would ease strains on the European Central Bank, which has bought 72 billion euros of weaker countries’ debt since May to stabilize markets. Yesterday the ECB shored up its capital base to guard against losses from the purchases, voting to almost double its capital to 10.76 billion euros.

Greek Warning

Spain and Greece were in investors’ sights yesterday. A Spanish bond auction raised 2.4 billion euros, less than the target. The extra yield that investors demand to hold Spanish 10-year bonds over German counterparts rose 3 basis points to 245 basis points, a day after Moody’s Investors Service said it may cut its credit rating.

Moody’s warned it’s considering a “multi-notch” downgrade of Greece, which is rated below investment grade after dragging Europe into the sovereign debt crisis and obtaining a 110 billion-euro aid package in May. Greece’s 10-year spread slipped 2 basis points to 881 before the Moody’s announcement.

The rating company today downgraded Ireland by five notches to Baa1 from Aa2, with a negative outlook, after the country was forced last month to seek its own bailout.

Germany and Austria also snubbed proposals by Luxembourg’s Juncker for European governments to pool some of their borrowing to create a more integrated bond market.

Joining Forces

Joining forces to borrow could cost German taxpayers an extra 13.4 billion euros in interest payments annually by harming Germany’s credit rating, the Munich-based Ifo economic research institute said on Nov. 23.

German insistence on cutting bond values when countries get into trouble in the future triggered the latest phase in the debt crisis, culminating in an 85 billion-euro support package for Ireland on Nov. 28.

While costs for bondholders aren’t mentioned in the two- sentence amendment, the leaders plan to endorse a Nov. 28 decision by finance ministers that writedowns may take place on a “case by case” basis in accord with IMF practices.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet called the pledge not to mandate bond writeoffs a “useful clarification.”
Merkel needed the amendment to prevent German high-court challenges to the future aid mechanism, which the EU wants to get up and running when the current rescue package lapses in mid-2013.

The compromise text reads: “The Member States whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality.”

‘Last Resort’

Merkel didn’t get everything she wanted. Germany originally pushed to allow financial aid only as a “last resort,” language that might have ruled out contingency credit lines or given the IMF the lead in sorting out Europe’s economic woes.
“We said that we stand by the euro overall and that’s why I think it was a good day for Europe,” Merkel said.

Last overhauled a year ago, the treaty is the EU’s equivalent of a constitution, binding on EU institutions in Brussels and on national governments’ handling of European affairs. All 27 countries, including the 11 outside the euro region, would need to ratify the amendment.

Soaring Deficit

Britain, the largest of the non-euro states and with a soaring deficit of its own, will back a future aid facility as long as it doesn’t have to pay in, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

“We do need a new mechanism to help the euro zone sort out its problems and its issues -- that’s important for Britain,” Cameron said in Brussels. “But we do need to make sure that Britain is not liable to spend money under that mechanism.”

Bowing to U.K. demands, the leaders agreed that the 60 billion-euro portion of the package financed by the EU’s central budget will be phased out when the new fund, solely backed by euro countries, is set up in 2013.

***
Il dettagliato resoconto di Bloomberg.

 

[tommy271]

Finmin unveils 2011 targets




Briefing Parliament's Economic Affairs Committee on the revised Memorandum, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou on Thursday appeared confident that Greece would succeed in overcoming the crisis and unveiled a number of target actions planned for 2011.

"In 2011 we are moving away from horizontal actions, such as wage cuts, and going toward targeted actions addressing the deficits of state companies, streamlining sections of the public sector, especially in health, and issues of tax administration and tax evasion," he said.

He noted that the country had so far achieve both the fiscal and structural targets in the quarterly inspections, with another 178 such target actions to be met in the next quarter.

Among such target actions in 2011, he listed the management and control of public spending and stricter implementation of the 2011 budget, the appointment in the first quarter of financial inspectors for the most important entities of general government and the tabling by April of the new three-year fiscal framework for the directions and goals of the next three years.

Another goal was to tackle tax evasion and third to reduce the number of state organisations in order to save roughly 800 million euro through the abolition and merger of various state entities.

(ana.gr)

 

[tommy271]

PASOK suffers bill fallout

One MP ousted, others angry; minister blames SYRIZA for Hatzidakis attack


A large protest on Wednesday against the government’s latest austerity measures, which turned violent and led to a former minister being attacked, as well as the expulsion of a PASOK MP for failing to vote for the measures in Parliament late on Tuesday underlined the growing political pressure on the Socialist administration.

This pressure was evident yesterday when Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou appeared before Parliament’s economic affairs committee for the second time this week and was again heavily criticized by his own party’s deputies as well as opposition MPs.

Less than 48 hours earlier, 156 MPs voted in favor of a bill that reduces wages at public enterprises (DEKOs) by 10 percent and which allows companies to bypass collective labor contracts. On an article-by-article basis, New Democracy supported the DEKO cuts but opposed the labor legislation. PASOK MP Yiannis Amoiridis accused the government of “not distributing the burden fairly.” “We have to be trustworthy so that people who feel insecure and doubt the measures’ effectiveness can trust us,” said Socialist deputy Mimis Androulakis.

Early on Wednesday, Preveza lawmaker Evangelos Papachristos was thrown out of PASOK for voting against the measures. Papachristos’s ousting, which reduces the government majority to six, was doubly significant as he was an adviser to Prime Minister George Papandreou.

Deputies from the Communist Party, Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) and the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) voted against the refroms, which up to 80,000 people protested against on Wednesday. The rally was marred by violence that led to 10 arrests as dozens of firebombs were thrown and riot police clashed with protesters. Former Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis was also set upon by a mob, leading to the ND MP having to be ushered away by police officers.

Hatzidakis condemned the violence but said that he felt no malice toward his assailants. Citizens’ Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis drew criticism from SYRIZA when, in Parliament, he essentially accused the leftist party’s supporters of being involved in the attack. SYRIZA accused him of “breeding violence.”


(Kathimerini.gr)


***
Il punto sulla situazione politica interna.

 

[tommy271]

PM calls for unity at EU summit



Prime Minister George Papandreou was one of several European Union leaders that yesterday called for unity ahead of a summit in Brussels where the final structure of a permanent support mechanism for indebted eurozone countries, like Greece, to receive financial support is to be decided.

“The challenge today is not what we as member states or nations are doing to shore up our economies, the challenge is a collective one now,” Papandreou stated as he arrived for the talks. The Greek leaders said that the Brussels summit would reach “important decisions about the future of Europe.”

Papandreou took his seat at the negotiating table at the European Commission as Moody’s rating agency warned that it could further downgrade Greek sovereign bonds due to concern about the country’s capacity to reduce its debt to sustainable levels.

Ahead of the summit, Greece had found itself in conflict with Germany over a number of aspects of the permanent mechanism, including whether private bondholder should be forced to accept a lower return on their investment, or a “haircut,” if a country receives financial support.

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to adopt a conciliatory approach ahead of the talks yesterday. “We all share the same objective: to ensure a stable Europe and single currency,” she said, adding that the mechanism was a strong display of “solidarity between the states that share the euro.”

The EU leaders were set to agree on the partial redrafting of the 27-nation bloc’s Lisbon Treaty to allow for the creation of a permanent support structure that would be up and running by January 1, 2013.


(Kathimerini.gr)


***
La posizione ellenica al Vertice UE.

 

[tommy271]

Jobless rate hits a 10-year high

Unemployment rises to 12.4 pct in Q3; manufacturing and construction sectors hardest hit


Greece’s unemployment hit a 10-year high in the third quarter with austerity measures promised in exchange for funding from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union expected to further weigh on the labor market.

The jobless rate rose to 12.4 percent in the three months to September, from 11.8 percent in the second quarter and 9.3 percent in the same period a year earlier, the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) said yesterday.

The statistics service said the number officially out of work was 621,938, with unemployment a much higher 24.2 percent in the 15-29 age group.

Conditions are worst in northern Greece’s Macedonia region where the unemployment rate is in the range of 13.2 to 14.8 percent.

Jobs fast dried up in the manufacturing and construction sectors over the last year as a total of almost 140,000 positions disappeared across all sectors in 12 months, ELSTAT data showed.

Economists at Alpha Bank see unemployment averaging at 12.3 percent in 2010, up from 9.4 percent in 2009 and 7.4 percent in 2008.

The bank said in a weekly report released yesterday that the jobless rate is seen rising to 14.3 percent next year, below the 15 percent expected by Greece and its international lenders, with tourism sector growth and government measures boosting employment seen as cushioning the effect of the recession.

“There are signs that point to a significant increase in flexible forms of employment and this will help in the fast reduction of jobless numbers,” said the bank.

In October, the Labor Ministry announced a state program co-funding the employment of 10,000 people aged up to 24, while other incentives providing for more flexible work conditions have also been approved.

In September Greece’s jobless rate was 2.3 percentage points higher than the average in the 16 countries that share the euro but lower than Spain’s 19.8 percent unemployment.

Greece has been in recession for more than two years, with the economy shrinking an annual 4.6 percent in the third quarter after the government slashed spending and raised taxes in an effort to narrow a budget deficit of 15.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2009. The economy is forecast to stop contracting in the second half of 2011.

(Kathimerini.gr)

***
Sul fronte occupazionale siamo in piena recessione ...