Berliners Dream of Return to Deutschmark
THE OBSERVER: Enthusiasm for single currency fades as resentment grows over Greek bailout

Waitress service in Berlin's Mitte district. The local joke is that the Greeks order and the Germans get the bill. Photograph: The Observer
In the back of the Berliner Republik bar on the banks of the river Spree, Matt, Otto and Christian's eyes are fixed on a screen in front of them. The names and prices of 18 German draught beers flash up, bright green on a black background, and change every few seconds, according to who has ordered what.

It's a pub game for the modern age, based on supply and demand. The trick is to buy the beer cheaply and then give yourself a pat on the back when demand pushes the price up.

"It gives a bit of a risqué edge to ordering," says Otto, a graphic designer. "But it also makes you feel strangely vulnerable."

The screen is more fruit machine than stock market, but it reflects the sense of playing a lottery common in Angela Merkel's Germany as it has pumped billions of euros into bailing out profligate Greece and propping up the single currency, without knowing whether the injection will do any good.

As the prices of the beers rise, news comes through from Frankfurt that in the real world Germany's DAX index has fallen 106.86 points, despite the €750m rescue package that the Bundestag has just narrowly approved. On Wall Street and elsewhere the markets wobbled, a sure sign that no one believed the crisis was anywhere near over.

On the pavement outside the bar, drawing on a cigarette, Pamela Schreiber pauses in contemplation. "Do I consider myself European? Well, of course, but first and foremost I'm a German," says the 33-year-old set designer with conviction.

The answer is not one that you would have expected a few years ago from a young person in Germany. This is the country where European enthusiasm has been easiest to find and where, since the war, European interests have taken precedence over nationalist ones. But, according to Schreiber, Germans feel increasingly torn over Europe.

"We always knew in our heart of hearts that the euro would never be as solid as our deutschmark, but we gave up our beloved currency, which was actually central to our identity, because we believed in the European project so fervently," she says.

Now there is talk, albeit based on blog gossip and a tabloid desire to whip up a good tale, of a return of the mark. Some even claim that secret supplies of the defunct currency – the strength of which was seen as a legacy of the sweat and tears that Germans spent to build up their ruined economy after the war – are being printed in secret underground locations. >>> Kate Connolly in Berlin | Sunday, May 23, 2010

David Cameron Vows to Veto Any Eurozone Bailout Treaty
David Cameron met Angela Merkel during his first trip abroad as Prime Minister. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: David Cameron made clear today he would not accept any attempt to force Britain to come to the aid of the eurozone through a new EU treaty.

In a direct and undiplomatic rebuff to Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, Mr Cameron insisted that Britain would not be “drawn further” into supporting the currency area.

Mrs Merkel has previously suggested that a new treaty, increasing the EU’s power over member states’ fiscal policy, might be necessary to prevent another Greek-style eurozone crisis.

Speaking at a joint press conference after his first meeting with the German Chancellor, Mr Cameron said: “There is no question of agreeing to a treaty that transfers power from Westminster to Brussels.

“That is set out 100 per cent clearly in the coalition agreement.

“Britain obviously is not in the euro and Britain is not going to be in the euro, and so Britain would not be agreeing to any agreement or treaty that drew us further into supporting the euro area.”

The Prime Minister stressed that any new European treaty, even one applying only to the eurozone would need unanimous agreement, effectively giving Britain a veto. >>> Raf Sanchez | Friday, May 21, 2010

‘Mummy’ Merkel Battered as Germans Lose Faith in EU
THE SUNDAY TIMES: After bailing out Greece and now the euro, Germany is fed up with being Europe’s paymaster

Germans are proud of working for global brand names such as manufacturing firms such as Mercedes-Benz and are outraged that Angela Merkel is giving taxpayers’ money to a country with little industrial output. Photo: The Sunday Times
GISELA and Susi, thirtysomething civil service secretaries, were shivering over their sausages in what the tabloids labelled the “most miserable May of the millennium” and planning their summer holidays. “I know where I’m not going,” one of them said. “The hotels, service and food aren’t as good as Turkey but the prices are as high as Italy!”

As Berliners bravely sat on the banks of the River Spree in unseasonably cold weather for the Ascension Day holiday that traditionally marks the start of summer, they had no doubt that the cold wind was blowing from the sunny south: Greece in particular.

The multi-billion-euro payout for Greece, followed by an even more expensive rescue package for the threatened single currency, has created the greatest political climate change in a generation.

Suddenly Germans are asking questions about the European project that has been the bedrock of their politics for 60 years, leaving Angela Merkel, the chancellor, under fire from the electorate, the opposition and her own party.

It took a stand-up display of table-banging aggression from President Nicolas Sarkozy and an intervention on the telephone from President Barack Obama to get Merkel to agree to the euro package.

“We foot the bill for EU disaster,” screamed a headline in Bild, the tabloid newspaper. Christoph Schmidt, a government economist, responded by warning: “Germany cannot become Europe’s paymaster.”

The tension between Germany and France threatened to spill over at a Brussels summit last weekend when Merkel and Sarkozy had a furious row. According to observers, it ended with Sarkozy threatening to leave the euro.

“It was a stand-up argument,” an official told El Pais, the Spanish newspaper. Sarkozy, furious at Merkel’s reluctance to sign up to a safety net of €750 billion (£644 billion), was shouting and bawling at Merkel and smashed his fist on the table. “It was Sarkozy on steroids,” one witness said.

Dubbed “our Iron Lady” — or just “Mutti” (Mummy) within the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) that she dominates — Merkel returned to Germany accused of having given too much, too late.

Her timing was also poor. The euro talks, combined with the Greek bailout, led to a CDU defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia’s state election last weekend and with it the loss of her majority in the upper house. >>> Peter Millar in Berlin | Sunday, May 16, 2010

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Germans Turn Against the EU as Eurozone Meltdown Heaps Misery on Angela Merkel >>> Andrew Gilligan in Bielefeld, Westphalia | Sunday, May 16, 2010

Euro Zone Pledges Bailout Fund

Eurozone Talks Battle to Stem Global Crisis Over Greek Rescue Plan
THE GUARDIAN: Turmoil in international markets hangs over emergency summit of European leaders

European leaders are battling a crisis of confidence in the euro single currency tonight, desperately seeking a formula to reassure the markets as the emergency triggered by Greece's huge debt levels and Europe's response threatened to go global.

An emergency summit of the 16 leaders of the countries using the single currency was held in Brussels, with chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and president Nicolas Sarkozy of France demanding tougher and quicker regulation of the financial markets in what looked like a doomed attempt to contain contagion from the Greek drama.

With the pace of developments outstripping the ability of political leaders to respond, what was initially called as a summit to bless a €110bn (£95bn) rescue package for Greece turned into a frantic exercise in global crisis management.

Alarm bells were ringing in major capitals across the world where leaders voiced their exasperation with European attempts to contain the fallout from Greece. In what may have been Alistair Darling's last part in trying to manage international financial turbulence, the chancellor took part in a phone conference of G-7 finance ministers discussing the implications for the international bond markets of the Greek debt debacle.

Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was scathing about the EU package for Greece over three years agreed last weekend by 15 eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund: "Markets have judged those arrangements to be inadequate," he [said]. >>> Ian Traynor, Brussels | Friday, May 07, 2010

Euro Plunges as Club Med Debt Fears Spread
THE TELEGRAPH: Fleeting relief over the EU-IMF bail-out for Greece has given way rapidly to a fresh bout of investor panic across southern Europe, pulling the euro down to its lowest level against the dollar in over a year.

Yields on German two-year debt reached a record low, falling to 0.71pc on safe-haven demand in echoes of credit stress at the height of the financial crisis. This is below the European Central Bank's short-term rate of 1pc. "This is very unusual and indicates concern about systemic risk from sovereign debt," said Stephen Lewis from Monument Securities.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told ARD television that banks and creditors should be forced to share the pain if further rescues are ever needed, suggesting "an orderly restructuring" of debt in future.

The words were an icy warning to investors that the €110bn (£95bn) aid package for Greece is a one-off case. Banks, insurers, and pension funds with high exposure to Club Med debt cannot count on a second rescue to protect their portfolios if the crisis spreads. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Greece Announces Financial Bailout

Greece Erupts as Men from IMF Prepare to Wield Axe
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Anger is intensifying over cuts to be made as part of the EU deal to save the economy

MAY DAY protests in Greece turned violent yesterday as youths in gas masks and hoods set fire to vehicles, smashed shop fronts and threw molotov cocktails and rocks at police in an explosion of fury over austerity measures they claim will hurt only the poor.

Tourists were cut off from their hotels as thousands of communists, civil servants and private-sector workers converged on a main square in Athens to vent their rage at the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“No to the IMF’s junta,” they chanted as a youth in a black hood produced a hammer to try to smash windows of the luxury Grande Bretagne hotel.

Another painted anti-capitalist slogans on the facade, and demonstrators intervened to prevent him from spraying an Australian woman with paint as she tried to get back into the hotel. Japanese tourists stood taking photographs of the mayhem with mobile phones before being forced to retreat, coughing and sneezing, under a cloud of tear gas.

The violence came as negotiations were concluding between the socialist government of George Papandreou, the IMF and the EU over a multi-billion-euro rescue package for Greece. >>> Matthew Campbell in Athens | Sunday, May 02, 2010

Revolution from Greece's Ruins as Crisis Deepens
THE TELEGRAPH: As Greeks face changing their way of life, rioters in Athens clash with police at the start of a very long, painful summer for the country.



The week was already going badly enough for mild-mannered Greek prime minister George Papandreou. After months of insisting that his country would be able to claw its own way out of decades of mismanagement and corruption, his belated SOS to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ensured that Greece's world famous ruins are now financial, not archaeological.

But then things got worse. Even as Mr Papandreou likened himself to Homer's great survivor, Odysseus, his country's fortunes were being sunk between a modern Scylla and Charybdis: German intransigence over a financial bailout on one side, and market jitters that downgraded Greek bonds to junk status on the other.

On Sunday, however, as the details of an economic life raft from the EU and IMF are due to be announced, Mr Papandreou will be forced to survey not simply the wreckage of the Greek economy, but the beginnings of "cultural revolution" that analysts say his homeland's crisis is set to unleash across the continent of Europe. >>> Harry de Quetteville and Paul Anast in Athens | Saturday, May 01, 2010

Euro Rallies On €30 Billion Greek Rescue
TIMES ONLINE: The euro surged to a one-month high and stock markets in Europe and Asia rallied today as traders welcomed a €30 billion (£26.5 billion) loans package for Greece, agreed by the currency's member countries to help the country tackle its debt crisis.

The euro surged to $1.3691 against the dollar, its highest level since mid-March, although concerns about the long-term nature of Greece's debt burden and worries about how the loans package would be implemented limited its gains.

The euro later dropped to $1.3574. Having fallen off sharply last week, it closed in New York on Friday at $1.3497.

"The euro is firmer as traders took heart from the Sunday announcement of the aid package for Greece,” said Daisuke Karakama, a currency analyst at Mizuho Corporate Bank. >>> Miles Costello, David Charter, Brussels | Monday, April 12, 2010

Greece: Deputy Prime Minister Accuses Germany of ‘Racial Prejudice’
MAIL ONLINE: Greece accused Germany yesterday of taking a racial approach to its financial crisis.

The claim came from deputy prime minister Theodoros Pangalos, who earlier this year accused Germany of not compensating Greece properly for its suffering during the Second World War Nazi occupation.

In a newspaper interview he said the Berlin government was more concerned in pleasing its own people - vehemently opposed to paying for a Greek bailout - than showing solidarity with a euro nation under pressure.

Mr Pangalos said Germany had taken a 'moral, racial' approach to the crisis, adding sarcastically: 'The Greeks have problems. Why do they have problems? Because they don't work enough.

'And why is that? Because they have a good climate, music and drink and they are not as serious as the Germans.' Germany won't bail us out due to 'racial prejudice' that we don't work hard, says Greek deputy PM in new outburst to fuel row >>> Mail Foreign Service | Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Euro Bounces Back on Greece Bailout Plan
TIMES ONLINE: The euro bounced back from a ten-month low today, after eurozone leaders agreed on a joint bailout package for Greece with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The European single currency was up against the dollar by 0.45 per cent to $1.3335 after earlier lows of below $1.3280. The euro has fallen by almost 7 per cent so far this quarter on concerns about the Greek debt crisis.

Yesterday, in a deal driven by Germany and France, EU leaders agreed on sweeping new powers to co-ordinate all EU economies as part of the landmark €30 billion (£27 million) bailout package for Greece.

However, analysts warned that the euro was still at risk of further declines as the Greece plan had not alleviated long-term worries about Portugal and Spain. On Wednesday, Fitch Ratings lowered Portugal's sovereign credit rating to AA-minus from AA.

The Greece bailout plan plan will put Herman Van Rompuy, of Belgium, the new permanent European Council President, in charge of “the economic governance of Europe”.

It will be seen as a direct challenge to Gordon Brown, who will want to make sure that Britain does not surrender any control over its own economy to Brussels. The next government in London may also face a tough fight in Europe because Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, suggested yesterday that a new treaty would be needed to give the EU extra economic powers — despite the pledge from EU leaders last year that the Lisbon treaty would be good for a decade. >>> David Charter, Rory Watson, Francesca Steele | Friday, March 26, 2010

Union Européenne : «La zone euro ne laissera jamais tomber la Grèce»
LE TEMPS: Un accord a finalement été trouvé tard dans la nuit à Bruxelles. Les pays de la zone euro entérinent la constitution d’un filet de sécurité pour empêcher que la crise grecque ne dégénère. Ils sont prêts à accorder des prêts bilatéraux aux côtés du FMI dans une proportion qui pourrait être de deux tiers, un tiers. L’euro est repassé au-dessus de 1,33 dollar ce matin

L’accord sur un mécanisme d’aide financière à la Grèce sur lequel étaient tombés d’accord jeudi après-midi le président Nicolas Sarkozy et la chancelière Angela Merkel a finalement été entériné jeudi, tard dans la soirée, par les chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement de la zone euro. «La zone euro prend son destin en main et s’est mise d’accord pour gérer les crises [en son sein]» s’est réjoui peu après le président français. Même Jean-Claude Trichet, le responsable de la BCE opposé à tout soutien, s’est dit «très heureux» d’un plan «préservant la responsabilité des pays de la zone». «Ce mécanisme ne se substitue pas à la discipline financière, c’est un filet de sécurité», a précisé plus tard dans la nuit José Manuel Barroso, président de la Commission européenne. Filet de sécurité >>> Pierre-Alexandre Sallier Bruxelles | Vendredi 26 Mars 2010

Sarkozy und Merkel einig über Hilfe an Euroländer: Dokument weist über aktuellen Fall Griechenland hinaus
NZZ ONLINE: Frankreich und Deutschland sind sich einig darüber, wie künftig die Hilfe für in finanzielle Schwierigkeiten steckende Ländern der Eurozone aussehen soll.

Frankreichs Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy und die deutsche Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel haben sich auf einen Vorschlag geeinigt, wie jetzt und in Zukunft Ländern der Eurozone mit finanziellen Schwierigkeiten geholfen werden soll.

Wie es aus der französischen Regierung hiess, wird in einem eineinhalbseitigen Text beschrieben, unter welchen Bedingungen Euroländer andere Mitglieder der Eurozone unterstützen können. Somit sei bei der Suche nach einer Lösung für das hoch verschuldete Griechenland ein Dokument entstanden, das weiter gehe, als den aktuellen Fall zu behandeln. >>> sda | Donnerstag, 25. März 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Greece bailout package 'agreed by Germany and France': France and Germany have agreed on a bailout package for Greece and other financially troubled eurozone countries, according to reports. >>> | Thursday, March 25, 2010

Greece Debt: EU Agrees Bailout Deal
THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Germany plays pivotal role in potential eurozone rescue package for Greek debts

The eurozone has agreed a multibillion-euro bailout for Greece as part of a package to shore up the single currency after weeks of crisis, the Guardian has learnt.

Senior sources in Brussels said that Berlin had bowed to the bailout agreement despite huge resistance in Germany and that the finance ministers of the "eurozone" – the 16 member states including Greece who use the euro – are to finalise the rescue package on Monday. The single currency's rulebook will also be rewritten to enforce greater fiscal discipline among members.

The member states have agreed on "co-ordinated bilateral contributions" in the form of loans or loan guarantees to Greece if Athens finds itself unable to refinance its soaring debt and requests help from the EU, a senior European commission official said.

Other sources said the aid could rise to €25bn (£22.6bn), although it is estimated in European capitals that Greece could need up to €55bn by the end of the year.

Germany, the EU's traditional paymaster, but the most reluctant to come to the rescue of a fiscal delinquent in the current crisis, has played the pivotal role in organising the rescue package, the sources added. >>> Ian Traynor in Brussels | Friday, March 12, 2010

Iceland Votes on Bailout


NZZ ONLINE: Isländer stimmen über Milliarden-Zahlungen ab: Nein zum Abkommen mit Grossbritannien und den Niederlanden erwartet >>> sda/dpa | Samstag, 06. März 2010

Angela Merkel Dashes Greek Hopes of Rescue Bid
THE GUARDIAN: German chancellor refuses to rescue Greece's ailing economy amid Berlin's domestic austerity

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, mounted stiff resistance tonight to any swift bailout of Greece, as a rift opened up between European capitals over how best to tackle the risks posed to the euro.

Despite a show of Franco-German unity on the crisis and the first statement from EU leaders pledging to safeguard the currency's stability, hopes on the markets of a German-led rescue plan to shore up Greece's critical public finances were dashed by Merkel, who repeatedly emphasised that Athens would need to put its own house in order and brushed aside all questions of financial support.

"Germany is stepping totally on the brakes on financial assistance," said a senior EU diplomat. "On legal grounds, on constitutional grounds and on principle." Another senior diplomat said of the Germans: "They're not waving their chequebooks." >>> Ian Traynor | Thursday, February 11, 2010

Bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland Bankers Set for Millions in Bonuses
TIMES ONLINE: RBS to reward staff in spite of losses

The troubled Royal Bank of Scotland, rescued with £20 billion of public money, is planning large bonuses for thousands of its City traders and senior bankers, The Times has learnt.

The proposed payments are expected to reach tens of millions of pounds — possibly hundreds of millions — with some star bankers in line for six-figure payouts.

UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the Treasury-run body that holds the Government’s RBS stake, is understood to have given its blessing in principle to limited payments, although it has yet to see the details. “There’s no blanket objection to bonuses, but they are subjecting them to intense scrutiny,” said one well-placed source. “The [bonus] numbers will be very large and very difficult for the general public to understand.” >>> Patrick Hosking, Banking and Finance Editor, and Philip Webster, Political Editor | Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

All to Be Found on Capitol Hill: Lame Ducks, Dead Ducks, Crap Sandwiches, and Bums!
THE GUARDIAN: The controversy over the failure of the Bush administration's unpopular financial bail-out is infecting every aspect of government and the presidential election campaign.

Eminent reputations lie in ruins; the august institutions of Congress, the treasury, the Federal Reserve tremble; the presidency itself is shaken. In America's year of living dangerously, few will emerge unscathed.

The consensus view, if there is one in so divided a nation, is that the US has suffered a calamitous, across-the-board failure of leadership. The bankruptcy is political as well as economic. This conclusion is widely held among both supporters and opponents of the bail-out.

"Monday's crash and burn of the Paulson plan on Capitol Hill reveals a Washington elite that has earned every bit of the disdain that Americans have for it. This crowd can't even make sausage," snarled a Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday. Black Monday's shambles marked a "historic abdication".

Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives were excoriated for political cowardice, childish disputatiousness, and a selfish desire to get re-elected next month at any cost. It's clear, whatever they do next, the public simply does not trust them to do it right.

"A political establishment held in higher regard may have been able to hold together some kind of coalition of the willing," wrote Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post. "But distrust of the nation's leaders, from the leaders of Congress to the president, foreclosed that possibility." Congress Approval Rating Just 10% as Bush Goes from 'Lame to Dead Duck' >>> Simon Tisdall in Washington | October 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>