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

[tommy271]

PM calls for "national understanding" at Economist Con'f




Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called on Tuesday evening for a "nation-wide understanding within the country" for an exit from the serious economic crisis currently plaguing the country.

Addressing an Economist conference titled "In the aftermath of the global economic crisis: what next" that began on Tuesday at a sea-side resort east of Athens, Papandreou said that the "primary necessity is to have a new nation-wide understanding within our country."

"Experiences in recent years, the tough reality and truth on our conditions, do not allow for embellishing the situation or offering magic recipes. They all call for a serious and responsible stance, persistence and commitment on the part of us all. And this must be communicated and expressed by all, society, business people, social partners and political party leaders alike. This is a national necessity for us: we have to change Greece. And indeed show that everyone everywhere understand this," the premier told his audience.

"In order to restore sustainable economic growth, fiscal consolidation remains our number one priority. That is why we have just tabled an ambitious mid-term fiscal adjustment program for 2012-2015, which includes extensive privatisations, economies of scale in the public sector, minimizing waste in public spending, and restructuring our production model," Papandreou noted, adding:

"We will undertake any additional policy measures necessary to ensure that we meet the original fiscal targets we set in 2011. What is needed to be done from here on? (1) a robust 4 year program, our program, which guarantees that we are moving. Implementing policies and all the necessary major changes in our society. It is technically called ‘a midterm program’, yet it is nothing less than a small revolution. One of restructuring our institutions, our society, our economy. One that moves from austerity to structural changes, programs to fight unemployment, to make insure competitiveness and growth. Certainly green and quality growth. (2) A clear commitment for the necessary support of this program from our institutional partners. (3) Good management of our debt. More specifically: We are finalizing our Medium Term Fiscal Strategy for the period 2012-2015. This is the first time Greece undertakes such a project which will bring our deficit below 3% in 2014 and at around 1 percentage of GDP in 2015.

"This will allow us to create a primary surplus above 5% from 2014 onwards which will reduce the debt to GDP ratio and make the Greek debt sustainable. Our medium term fiscal strategy will be fully quantified and all the necessary measures will be completely specified."

(ana.gr)

***
L'ambizioso programma di Papandreou.

 

[tommy271]

EU pushes on privatization, consensus



Brussels calls for gov't to secure backing from political rivals, ND rejects idea

European Union officials on Tuesday increased the pressure on the Greek government to raise much-needed revenue by pushing through an ambitious privatization program, and to seek consensus with its political rivals for an ongoing austerity drive - a proposal that was all but rebuffed by the conservative opposition New Democracy.
“Greece must rapidly privatize 50 billion euros of assets so that its medium- and long-term public debt becomes sustainable, because at the moment it is unsustainable,” Luxembourg’s prime minister and the head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, told European Union finance ministers in Brussels.
Sources told Kathimerini that Greece’s Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou presented his peers in Brussels with data showing the progress of austerity measures implemented by Greece so far but that that they were largely unimpressed. There was reportedly a feeling among many EU ministers that Greece’s ruling Socialist government does not have the political will to implement reforms and that it must seek political consensus. European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn gave voice to these concerns on Tuesday, indicating that any future aid for Greece would be dependent on the government securing backing for new measures from all parties.
“It is possible for Portugal and Ireland; why not for Greece?” Rehn said, referring to the two other eurozone countries that have received EU bailout packages and where political consensus has been greater (though in these cases the austerity measures taken have been less severe).
ND leader Antonis Samaras appeared to all but rule out the prospect of consensus on Tuesday, calling the mid-term austerity program, which is to be submitted in Parliament in the next few days, “demonstrably wrong.” Emerging from a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias, Samaras told reporters: “Agreement, of course, exists with Europe on the targets to lower the deficit and the national debt. To this we say yes. However, to support a demonstrably wrong formula, we say no.”
Samaras, who last week unveiled his party’s own alternative economic program, suggested that ND would support some measures if they were “good for the country.”






ekathimerini.com , Tuesday May 17, 2011 (23:06)

***
L'ambigua posizione del centrodestra. Probabilmente dall'Europa cresce la pressione dei partiti fratelli, per un sostegno al Piano di Privatizzazioni.

 

[tommy271]

'Buy Greek' movement begins action



Event to promote Greek products to be held in central Athens at end of the month

No sooner has the “I won’t pay” movement made its mark on the Greek political and social landscape, another citizens’ group, called “We consume what we produce” is hoping to change the attitudes of thousands of people.
While the “I won’t pay movement” protested high toll and public transport charges, “We consume what we produce” aims to highlight the quality of products made in Greece in the hope that it will convince shoppers to buy them.
Representatives of the new movement made their first public appearance on Tuesday to promote an upcoming event at Syntagma Square in central Athens. The event, which will take place on Monday, May 30, and Tuesday, May 31, is being billed as a major promotion of Greek food and drink.
“Our movement aims to promote the message ‘I dress Greek, I eat Greek, I make Greece my tourist destination’ to all Greeks,” said former Athens Mayor Dimitris Beis during a press conference yesterday. “By buying Greek products we take part in the effort to protect jobs, to stop shops closing down and to support our farmers, our producers and our tourism sector,” he added.
The movement will organize the event with the help of private companies from the food and drink sector, and the support of the Agricultural Development and Food Ministry. It will feature more than 60 Greek companies.
Nikos Skoulas, a former tourism minister who is vice president of the ESTIA group that represents the private firms supporting the initiative, suggested that all Greeks should cancel any plans to travel abroad for their vacations and spend them in their homeland instead. “We are living in conditions of economic war,” he said. “We can no longer wait for someone else to make the first move. We have to make the first move by supporting Greek products.”
The deputy chairman of the General Confederation of Greek Small Businesses and Traders (GSEVEE), Yiannis Kavvathas, reminded consumers that they have the power to decide what products shops stock. “We consumers decide what goes on the shelves through our purchasing habits,” he said, adding that products displaying barcodes that begin with the numbers 520 are usually from Greece.






ekathimerini.com , Tuesday May 17, 2011 (23:17)

***
Verso un riequilibrio della bilancia commerciale.
Se volete sostenere, acquistare prodotti con l'inizio del codice a barre 520 ...

 

[tommy271]

Greek PM dismisses scenarios of debt restructuring



13:28, May 18, 2011



Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou dismissed once again Tuesday scenarios of a Greek debt restructuring.

The costs for doing so far outweigh any potential benefits, said Papandreou during his speech at a forum organized by Economist on the aftermath of the global economic crisis.

"So we stick to doing what we need to do anyway: create a primary surplus, get the economy growing again through structure reforms, use our assets to reduce our debt. All other discussions are a distraction and we refuse to be drawn into them," stressed the Greek premier.

At the end of a EU Finance Ministers meeting in Brussels earlier on Tuesday, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn talked about a "voluntary" extension of the repayment period for the Greek debt if Greece steps up efforts to fix its finances.

Rehn added pressure to Athens to push faster the necessary structural reforms, such as privatizations, "through broad political consensus" to secure the next tranches of the EU- International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid package agreed last May and possibly more support.

In a first reply, Papandreou requested once again "a new nation-wide understanding within Greece" with a clear commitment to the mid-term fiscal strategy program for the period 2012-2015 promoted by his government this May to lead Greece out of the crisis back to growth.

Greece was saved from bankruptcy last spring with the support of EU-IMF in exchange for bold austerity and reform policies, aiming to overcome an acute debt crisis over a three-year period, but has not fully met targets, fueling talks that it needs more time and support.

Source: Xinhua

 

[tommy271]

EURO GOVT-Bunds down before German supply, equities up






LONDON | Wed May 18, 2011 2:09am EDT



LONDON May 18 (Reuters) - German government bonds fell at the open on Wednesday ahead of supply out of Germany and as softer U.S. data pushed U.S. Treasuries lower in overnight trading.
Bund futures FGBLc1 were 16 ticks lower at the open at 124.26, as Asian equities rose overnight and with European shares set to track them higher.
U.S. Treasuries ticked down in Asian trading after disappointing U.S. economic data the previous day added more evidence to the view that U.S. growth may not accelerate as early as some had hoped.
"Stocks have had a good session in Asia," said a London trader, adding that uncertainty over Greece would continue to give an underlying bid to the bond market.
German Bunds rallied on Tuesday as uncertainty remained over the solution to the Greek debt crisis with Europe's top financial officials acknowledging for the first time that Athens may have to restructure its debt.
But questions persisted about how and when such a move would come and how successful it would be in putting Greece back on a sustainable footing.

"At the end of the day it amounts to some form of restructuring. I don't think it's great for Europe at all," the trader said.
"It's an issue that's going to go on for some time and it's a support for Bunds."
Germany will auction 6 billion euros in a reopening of its 2.75 percent April 2016 bond which was launched last month and is now trading with a yield of 2.46 percent.
"(Five-year) re-openings have always registered a good demand," said UniCredit rate strategist Chiara Cremonesi.
"We expect this auction to be well-received, too: The still risky environment in the EMU should favour demand for German paper, even if it trades at expensive levels."
German five-year bonds have outperformed their 2- and 10-year neighbours during May's rally, reflected by the so-called Barbell falling around a basis point to 6.5 bps. Portugal may also see lower yields at an auction of up to 1 billion euros of two-month treasury bills, its first debt auction since the European Union approved a 78 billion euro three-year bailout loan this week

 

[tommy271]

Tumpel-Gugerell: Greece exit talk unnecessary-paper






FRANKFURT | Wed May 18, 2011 2:14am EDT



FRANKFURT May 18 (Reuters) - Speculation about a Greek exit from the eurozone is unnecessary, European Central Bank policymaker Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said in an interview with Boersen Zeitung.
Upon being asked by the German daily whether she was confident that Greece could come back to the markets, and whether therefore discussions about Greece leaving the eurozone were unnecessary, she said: "Exactly."
Asked further about whether the eurozone remained a viable construct, she said: "We need to distinguish between problems in the past, and the way forward."
In the past, structural problems in some countries were not addressed at the right time. The design for the future needs to bring about better political and economic cooperation, she told Boersen Zeitung.
Furthermore it was important to provide support for certain countries so that they have time to adjust their economies to a point whereby they can grow "from their own strength", Tumpel-Gugerell told the German paper.

 

[tommy271]

Strauss-Kahn, cresce pressione perché lasci Fmi

mercoledì 18 maggio 2011 08:23




NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cresce la pressione su Dominique Strauss-Kahn perché lasci la direzione dell'Fmi dopo l'arresto con l'accusa di violenza sessuale, mentre alcuni politici francesi criticano il trattamento riservatogli dalle autorità americane.
La battaglia per la successione a Strauss-Kahn, in isolamento in una cella nel carcere newyorkese di Rikers Island, si è intensificata quando Cina, Brasile e Sud Africa hanno sfidato l'influenza dell'Europa su quello che è un ruolo fondamentale per l'economia mondiale.
Il direttore dell'Fmi dovrebbe restare in carcere almeno fino alla prossima udienza venerdì, quando il suo avvocato potrebbe ottenere il rilascio su cauzione.
Potrebbero volerci sei mesi prima dell'inizio del processo, secondo gli esperti. Una fonte del settore ha detto che Strauss- Kahn viene seguito per l'eventuale rischio suicidio.
L'Fmi dice di non aver avuto contatti con Strauss-Kahn dal suo arresto. Due fonti del board del Fondo hanno detto a Reuters che il board chiederà a Strauss-Kahn se pensi di restare al suo posto.
Una delle fonti ha detto che l'ideale sarebbe che Strauss-Kahn si dimettesse. La seconda fonte dice che l'idea non è condivisa da tutte i 24 membri del board, che ha l'autorità di rimuovere il numero uno.
Strauss-Kahn è accusato di violenza sessuale e tentato stupro nei confronti di una cameriera dell'hotel Sofitel di Manhattan. Rischia 25 anni di carcere.

 

[Nobody's]

Websim - 18/05/2011 08:40:35

Tra i paesi europei si fa largo l'ipotesi di una ristrutturazione soft del debito della Grecia. (FT p 1)

 

[tommy271]

Straubhaar Sees Greek Debt Restructuring, Sueddeutsche Says

By Tony Czuczka - May 18, 2011 8:32 AM GMT+0200 Wed May 18 06:32:22 GMT 2011

Greece will have to restructure its debt, meaning bondholders will probably lose much of their principal, Thomas Straubhaar, head of the HWWI economic institute, was quoted as saying by Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
The head of the Hamburg-based institute predicted the so- called haircut for investors in Greek sovereign bonds will be at least 50 percent and likely more, the newspaper reported today, citing an interview.
The International Monetary Fund and European Union officials should organize the debt restructuring and press Greece’s private creditors to accept an extension of bond maturities or a quick immediate haircut, Straubhaar was quoted as saying.



(Bloomberg)


***
Analisti.

 

[IL MARATONETA]

Websim - 18/05/2011 08:40:35

Tra i paesi europei si fa largo l'ipotesi di una ristrutturazione soft del debito della Grecia. (FT p 1)

mi pare che anche questo vertice tra capi di stato europei non abbia portato a soluzioni chiare per la crisi greca: per dirla in termini calcistici, il gioco ristagna e gli stati continuano ...la melina...