THE GUARDIAN: GDP shrank 0.1% in first quarter of 2023 and final three months of 2022 after revisions to earlier estimates
The eurozone slipped into recession in the first three months of the year, after official figures were revised to show the bloc’s economy shrank as the rising cost of living weighed on consumer spending.
Figures from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, showed gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.1% in the first quarter of 2023 and the final three months of 2022 after revisions to earlier estimates. A technical recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Thursday, June 8, 2023
Showing posts with label Eurozone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eurozone. Show all posts
Thursday, June 08, 2023
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Collapse of 'Comatose' Schengen Will Wreck Euro, Admits Jean-Claude Juncker
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| Jean-Claude Juncker |
The Schengen zone is “partially comatose”, Jean-Claude Juncker conceded on Wednesday, as he warned that its collapse would take down the eurozone.
The single currency cannot survive if the free movement of people granted by the passport-free travel zone ends, the president of the European Commission said, in the starkest warning yet.
Mr Juncker could only watch this summer after state after state reintroduced border controls in a desperate attempt to halt the influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants. The Paris terrorist attacks led France to announce indefinite border checks.
"We have to safeguard the spirit behind Schengen,” Mr Juncker told the European Parliament. “Yes, the Schengen system is partially comatose.” » | Matthew Holehouse, Brussels | Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Greek Protesters Set Fire to Syriza Flag
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| Avji Voutsina, protester burning Syriza flag |
Greece's small left-wing anti-capitalist Antarsya party and affiliated trade unions staged a rally on Monday night outside parliament in Athens against Greece's new bailout.
The party has said "the hours are critical" for those who favour left-wing policies.
One protester burnt Syriza's party flag outside parliament, saying that the leftist-led coalition government had reneged on its pre-election pledge to put an end to austerity. (+ video) » | Robert Midgley, and agencies | Monday, July 13, 2015
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Greece Nears Euro Exit as Bailout Talks Break Up without Agreement
Greece’s final attempt to avoid being kicked out of the euro by securing a new three-year bailout worth up to €80bn ran into a wall of resistance from the eurozone’s fiscal hawks on Saturday.
Finland rejected any more funding for the country and Germany called for Greece to be turfed out of the currency bloc for at least five years.
The last-chance talks between the 19 eurozone finance ministers in Brussels ended at midnight, as they struggled to draft a policy paper for national leaders at yet another emergency summit on Sunday that was billed as the decisive meeting.
With Greece on the edge of financial and social implosion, eurozone finance ministers met to decide on the country’s fate and on what to do about its debt crisis, after experts from the troika of creditors said that new fiscal rigour proposals from Athens were good enough to form “the basis for negotiations”.
But the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, dismissed that view, supported by a number of northern and eastern European states. “These proposals cannot build the basis for a completely new, three-year [bailout] programme, as requested by Greece,” said a German finance ministry paper. It called for Greece to be expelled from the eurozone for a minimum of five years and demanded that the Greek government transfer €50bn of state assets to an outside agency for sell-off. » | Ian Traynor in Brussels | Saturday, July 11, 2015
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Europe's Big Guns Warn Greek Voters That A No Vote Means Euro Exit
The eurozone’s three biggest countries have raised the stakes in next Sunday’s Greek referendum with an orchestrated warning to voters that a no vote would mean exit from the single currency and the return of the drachma.
As the Greek economy suffered on its first day of stringent capital controls, politicians from Germany, France and Italy joined the European commission in insisting that the poll was not about whether Athens could secure more favourable bailout terms but was about continued euro membership.
The stark assessment was shared by George Osborne, who told MPs that the UK economy would be affected by the chaos that would result from Greece leaving the eurozone. » | Larry Elliott, Graeme Wearden and Nicholas Watt | Monday, June 29, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Greece 48 hours from Fatal Eurozone Rupture as Creditor Powers Poised to Pull the Plug
Greece stands on the brink of a banking collapse and disorderly exit from the euro after its creditor powers lashed out at Athens' plans to hold a referendum by vowing to pull the plug on the country in just three days.
Eurozone finance ministers last night withdrew tentative plans to release €15bn to the debtor country, after Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, said he would put the “humiliating” package of austerity demands to a public vote on July 5. Unless the cash-strapped country can scramble together €1.55bn Tuesday, it will become the first developed country in history to default on its International Monetary Fund loan on June 30. On the same day, it's €240bn rescue programme will also formally expire throwing its banking system into turmoil.
Creditors powers, stunned by Mr Tsipras's audacity to call a public vote, rejected his pleas to extend the programme for a few weeks to allow the vote to be held next Saturday.
The voice of Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup, cracked with emotion as he announced that his 18 colleagues had rejected Greece’s demand.
“We must conclude that however regretful, the programme will expire on Tuesday night,” he said. “It will expire.”
A wounded Mr Dijsselbloem added that even in the event of a yes vote by the Greek people, creditors could no longer cooperate with radical Leftist government due to "grave concerns about credibility". Read on and comment » | Matthew Holehouse in Brussels and Mehreen Khan | Saturday, June 27, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Grexit Beckons: Greece On Brink of Euro Exit as It Faces Economic Meltdown
Greece is on the brink of economic meltdown after Germany appeared poised to push the country out of the eurozone.
With the embattled country set to default on a €1.5billion (£1.1billion) debt repayment, senior German politicians warned that “enough is enough”.
London’s FTSE 100 slipped 1.1 per cent to a three-month low on Monday as investors reacted to Greece’s failure to reach a deal with its creditors.
Global oil prices also fell after negotiations collapsed after just 45 minutes on Sunday, amid fears that Greece is now heading towards financial catastrophe.
As the crisis intensified, it emerged that George Osborne, the Chancellor, will later this week chair an emergency meeting as ministers seek to protect Britain’s economy from a potential Greek exit from the single currency - dubbed a Grexit.
Officials want to ensure that the Government has “contingency plans” in place to ensure that UK businesses are not damaged by a Greek withdrawal. » | Peter Dominiczak, Political Editor | Tuesday, June 16, 2015
THE TELEGRAPH: Enough is enough, Greece must leave the euro: The Greek debt crisis is now five years old, and still there is no workable settlement in sight. One apparent denouement follows another, lending Europe a sense of permanent crisis and conflict, not so dissimilar to an outright war, at least in terms of the entrenched positions adopted and the vitriol of the language. » | Telegraph View | Tuesday, June 16, 2015
DIE WELT: Merkel will "alles tun", um Griechenland zu halten » | Mittwoch, 17. Juni 2015
Monday, March 09, 2015
Greece's Defence Minister Threatens to Send Migrants Including Jihadists to Western Europe
Greece will unleash a “wave of millions of economic migrants” and jihadists on Europe unless the eurozone backs down on austerity demands, the country[‘s] defence and foreign ministers have threatened.
The threat comes as Greece struggles to convince the eurozone and International Monastery Fund to continue payments on a £172billion bailout of Greek finances.
Without the funding, Greece will go bust later this month forcing the recession-ravaged and highly[-]indebted country out of the EU’s single currency.
Greece’s borders with Turkey is the EU’s frontline against illegal immigration and European measures to stop extremists travelling to and from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) bases in Syria and Iraq.
Panos Kammenos, the Greek defence minister, warned that if the eurozone allowed Greece to go bust it would give EU travel papers to illegal immigrants crossing its borders or the 10,000 currently held in detention centres. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Monday, March 09, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
What Does Syriza’s Victory Mean for Greece and the Eurozone?
Thursday, February 06, 2014
Dutch Populist Politician Geert Wilders Wants Netherlands to Leave EU
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| Geert Wilders |
He claimed Thursday a "NExit" -- Netherlands exit from both the European Union and euro currency zone -- would add nearly 10,000 euros ($13,000) to GDP per capita over two decades, from around 35,000 euros now.
The Dutch government rejects Wilders' views, saying a pullout from the European Union would cause irreparable damage to trade relations in a country heavily reliant on trade, and a euro departure would lead to a new financial crisis.
"I cannot explain to any voters in the Netherlands that we have to raise taxes, cut health care for the elderly, for example, but that we send billions of euros to the Southern European countries (for bailouts), or all the fees we pay to Brussels," Wilders said at a press conference outside Dutch parliament.
Wilders' views on leaving the European Union have so far gained little traction in the Netherlands, and are seen as practically unworkable. However, his euro-skeptic stance, like that of other parties elsewhere on the political extremes -- such as France's Marine Le Pen, Greece's Alexis Tsipras and Britain's Nigel Farage, does resonate with a wider public. » | Toby Sterling, The Associated Press | Thursday, February 06, 2014
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Angela Merkel: Greece Should Never Have Been Allowed in the Euro
The German leader’s outburst came as she attempted to prove to voters she maintains a tough stance on struggling euro countries, just a month before facing key elections.
“Greece shouldn’t have been allowed into the euro,” Ms Merkel told around 1,000 supporters of her Christian Democratic Union in Rendsburg on Tuesday.
“Chancellor Schroeder accepted Greece in [in 2001] and weakened the Stability Pact, and both decisions were fundamentally wrong, and one of the starting points for our current troubles.”
Ms Merkel reiterated her desire to see a strong single currency, but warned that this can only be achieved through reforms in struggling countries such as Greece.
“That [a unified euro area] is such a treasure, such a boon, that we can’t place it in doubt,” she told her supporters. “That’s why the euro is more than a currency. For this reason we’ve shown solidarity, but solidarity always linked to responsibility for reforms in those countries that experience our solidarity.” Read on and comment » | Andrew Trotman | Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Growth in Germany and France Ends Euro Recession
Germany and France finally powered the eurozone out of its longest-ever recession between April and June, official figures showed today.
The stronger-than-expected 0.3% growth ends six-successive quarters of economic contraction for the single-currency bloc and also heralds better news for the UK’s exporters, which send around 40% of their goods to European markets.
The recovery was led by the eurozone’s two biggest economies as powerhouse Germany managed 0.7% growth and France cheered markets with an unexpectedly strong 0.5% bounce-back from a mild recession of its own. This was France’s strongest advance for two years. » | Russell Lynch | Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Monday, May 06, 2013
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Oskar Lafontaine, the German finance minister who launched the euro, has called for a break-up of the single currency to let southern Europe recover, warning that the current course is "leading to disaster".
"The economic situation is worsening from month to month, and unemployment has reached a level that puts democratic structures ever more in doubt," he said.
"The Germans have not yet realised that southern Europe, including France, will be forced by their current misery to fight back against German hegemony sooner or later," he said, blaming much of the crisis on Germany's wage squeeze to gain export share.
Mr Lafontaine said on the parliamentary website of Germany's Left Party that Chancellor Angela Merkel will "awake from her self-righteous slumber" once the countries in trouble unite to force a change in crisis policy at Germany's expense.
His prediction appeared confirmed as French finance minister Pierre Moscovici yesterday proclaimed the end of austerity and a triumph of French policy, risking further damage to the tattered relations between Paris and Berlin.
"Austerity is finished. This is a decisive turn in the history of the EU project since the euro," he told French TV. "We're seeing the end of austerity dogma. It's a victory of the French point of view." » | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor | Sunday, May 05, 2013
Sunday, April 07, 2013
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The eurozone crisis threatens to flare up again this week after Portugal's constitutional court blocked the country's planned austerity programme.
The single currency bloc has already been destabilised by Cyprus and now faces fresh uncertainty if Lisbon cannot find new savings to meet the conditions of its €78bn (£66bn) bail-out.
Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal’s prime minister, said last night that the rejection posed “serious obstacles and risks” to Portugal’s progress in meeting its bail-out commitments, but that it would “do everything to avoid a second rescue”.
“The government is committed to all the objectives of the programme,” he said. Luis Marques Guedes, secretary of state for cabinet matters, said at the weekend: "The constitutional court's decision places serious difficulties on the country to comply with the goals and budget targets it has to meet. The government doesn't agree with the interpretation of the constitution."
The court ruled that planned cuts in salaries to state workers and payments to pensioners were in breach of the constitution. The measures were expected to save as much as €1.3bn annually, a large slice of the €5bn of fiscal consolidation planned for this year. Mr Passos Coelho said that he had asked ministries to slash spending in order to avoid further tax rises. » | Philip Aldrick, Economics editor | Sunday, April 07, 2013
Monday, October 15, 2012
One of the world’s richest nations openly expressed concerns over the possible outcome of Europe’s continuing financial troubles, and is currently conducting army exercises against the possibility of riots along its borders.
In September, the Swiss military conducted exercises dubbed ‘Stabilo Due,’ with scenarios involving violent instability across the EU.
Switzerland has maintained an avowedly neutral stance for decades, and refused to join the eurozone when presented with the opportunity.
Bern’s biggest fear is likely the disorganization of neighboring nations’ armies that would follow general instability; the eurozone crisis and the severe austerity measures in the EU are forcing member-states to significantly slash their military budgets. If protest continues to spread across Europe, police and armed forces may find themselves ill-equipped to manage the unrest.
"I will not rule out that we will need the army in the coming years,” Swiss Defense Minister Ueli Maurer said last Sunday. » | Friday, October 12, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG: "Keine Zeit mehr zu verlieren": Der Vorsitzende der Euro-Gruppe sieht einen entscheidenden Punkt der Schuldenkrise gekommen. Jean-Claude Juncker unterstützt Pläne von EZB-Chef Draghi zum Ankauf von Staatsanleihen - und gibt Deutschland eine Mitschuld an der Krise. Berlin behandle die Euro-Zone "wie eine Filiale". Auch "Geschwätz über den Austritt Griechenlands" sei nicht hilfreich.
Luxemburgs Premier Jean-Claude Juncker warnt vor dem Zerfall der Währungsunion. "Wir sind an einem entscheidenden Punkt angekommen", sagte Juncker der Süddeutschen Zeitung. "Die Welt redet darüber, ob es die Euro-Zone in einigen Monaten noch gibt." Um den Euro zu retten, sei "keine Zeit mehr zu verlieren", fügte der Vorsitzende der Euro-Gruppe, des mächtigen Gremiums der 17 Euro-Finanzminister, hinzu. "Wir müssen jetzt mit allen verfügbaren Mitteln überaus deutlich machen, dass wir fest entschlossen sind, die Finanzstabilität der Währungsgemeinschaft zu gewährleisten." » | Von Cerstin Gammelin und Stefan Kornelius | Sonntag, 29. Juli 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
BBC: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has mounted a strong defence of the EU's handling of the financial crisis.
He told world leaders at a G20 summit in Mexico "we have not come here to receive lessons", and pointed out that the financial global crisis "was not originated in Europe". Watch BBC video » | Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Related »
José Manuel Barroso was quite right to tell those assembled at the G20 that the EU wasn't there to take lessons from them on how to manage the economy. This financial crisis was caused by the reckless bankers, not the EU. Further, the Americans can teach nobody how to manage the economy: they can't manage even their own economy. It's in a parlous state. So just who is there in the G20 to give Barroso or the EU lessons in economics, or management of the economy? And as for Obama, he couldn't manage the accounts of a McDonald's outlet, still less an economy. If the US economy were managed as well as the German economy, the country would be in fine shape.– © Mark
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Monday, June 18, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: EC president says European leaders have not come to Mexico to receive lessons on how to handle the economyThe opening day of the G20 summit was threatening to deteriorate into a fractious row between eurozone countries and other non-European members of the G20, notably the US, as EU commission president José Manuel Barroso insisted the origins of the eurozone crisis lay in the unorthodox policies of American capitalism.
As Europe's leaders came under intense pressure to act decisively to cure the euro's ills, and a campaign gathered pace to relax some of the austerity programmes laying waste to countries burdened with unsustainable debt levels, Barroso insisted that Europe had not come to the G20 summit in Mexico to receive lessons on how to handle the economy.
When asked by a Canadian journalist "why should North Americans risk their assets to help Europe?" he replied: "Frankly, we are not here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy.
"By the way this crisis was not originated in Europe … seeing as you mention North America, this crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices, from some sectors of the financial market." » | Patrick Wintour in Los Cabos, Ian Traynor in Brussels and Helena Smith in Athens | Monday, June 18, 2012
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Griechenland hat gewählt, aber Europa ist damit noch lange nicht gerettet. Der Kontinent steht in den nächsten Wochen vor einer Richtungsentscheidung: Entweder die EU wächst jetzt endlich zusammen, oder das Projekt ist am Ende. Die Totengräber warten schon.Wer braucht eigentlich Europa, den Euro, diesen andauernden Ärger mit den Griechen? Was soll das alles noch? Ein Land, elf Millionen Einwohner klein, führt den Rest des Staatenbunds monatelang vor. Jede Wahl in Hellas wird zur Zitterpartie für ganz Europa. Viele Griechen benehmen sich wie eine Gruppe Halbstarker, die in einem Club Party gemacht haben und jetzt empört sind, dass sie dafür eine Rechnung bezahlen sollen. Ja, geht's noch?
Wenn es gut läuft, wird Griechenland nach dem Wahlsieg von Antonis Samaras nun endlich eine Regierung bekommen. Aber Griechenland wird ein Problemfall bleiben, die politischen Verhältnisse sind instabil, Samaras ist ein politischer Wendehals, wenig zuverlässig. Es muss aber weiter gelten: Die neue Regierung in Athen darf mehr europäisches Geld nur erhalten, wenn die zugesagte Erneuerung des Landes und die Sparbeschlüsse umgesetzt werden. Anders wird Griechenland niemals aus dem Tief herauskommen. Ein Wanken darf sich Europa an dieser Stelle nicht erlauben, Ausnahmeregelungen für große und kleine Schuldensünder gab es in der Vergangenheit schon zu viele, sie haben uns diesen Euro-Ärger erst eingebrockt.
Aber es gilt auch: Die neue griechische Regierung braucht Unterstützung aus Europa. Griechenland braucht Hilfe, um seine Wirtschaft anzukurbeln, das Land braucht ein echtes Konjunkturprogramm. Und: Wenn der Zeitplan für die Umsetzung der Reformen verändert werden kann, dann soll er verändert werden. Der neue Regierungschef kann das als Erfolg verkaufen und wenigstens zum Teil sein Gesicht wahren. Sei's drum. Vielleicht hilft das, die Verhältnisse in Athen wieder zu stabilisieren. » | Ein Kommentar von Roland Nelles | Montag, 18. Juni 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
THE NEW YORK TIMES: ATHENS — Greek voters narrowly favored a pro-bailout party in parliamentary elections on Sunday, a result that is likely to calm world markets and ease fears that the country will leave the euro zone.Official projections showed the conservative New Democracy party as coming in first, giving it the chance to collect enough support to form a pro-bailout coalition and keep Greece in the euro zone.
Late Sunday night, Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the leftist Syriza party, conceded the election and congratulated the conservative leader of New Democracy, Antonis Samaras. Syriza had called for a rejection of the loan deal that Greece had made with foreign creditors.
Though no party is expected to earn enough seats in the 300-member Parliament to form a government, official projections show that the two traditional parties — New Democracy and the socialist Pasok — would get enough seats to form a coalition. » | Rachel Donadio | Sunday, June 17, 2012
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