Category: Economy

The Eurozone finance ministers have announced that there will be no more talks until after the referendum. The Greek MP’s have gone back to their constituencies to campaign for the referendum, with splits starting to show in the government coalition, let’s wait and see.

Is there still a deal on the table available to be revised and accepted? The Greek Government thinks there is, they need to phone the banker….or Ms Merkel (as she is now known) who is saying publically there isn’t. Whatever happens it looks like it’s going to be messy.

When is a default not a default? When it’s a Greek default of course. But seriously, there seems more urgency in the Greek government now, as the ECB or the Brussels haven’t blinked and are still playing hard ball despite the non payment to the IMF.

If Greece votes No, it is not consistent with Greece staying in the Euro; still then the Greek government can say it was the people’s own choice…. The Euro exit door, which wasn’t supposed to exist at all, is being clearly marked.

An unwanted week of Bank Holidays with all the banks shut, (even the National Bank of Greece in London), Capital Controls with EUR 60 a day cash withdrawal limit, although the French still say there is time for a deal, but with Greece due to make a EUR1.6bn payment to the IMF on Tuesday….. we shall see.

The EUR debt crisis and its solutions have been likened to kicking a can further down the road each time a repayment crisis loomed and the payment due was rolled up into a future one. Has Greece now reached the (dead) end of the road?

News is being broken by Robert Peston that the ECB will remove the support for Greek banks, now they won’t have access to emergency lending funds to keep the banking system liquid with amount of deposits being withdrawn by customers. Capital Controls it is then.

However this does not mean that Greece coming out of the Euro is a formality, it is possible to remain in the Euro, as Cyprus has proved, but it would be very painful for the country.

Late last night Greek government sidestepped and called a referendum on the new bail out conditions that they don’t like. Let’s hope that the polling companies are a little more accurate than the ones that we just had during the UK Parliamentary elections.

The Eurozone Finance Ministers have refused to extend the existing bailout deal, it’s heading rapidly towards crunch time for Greece.

I rather liked Sara Pascoe’s parody of the Greek situation comparing it to the running of a brewery and a pub, which was shown on Mock The Week last night, (series 14 episode 3, see the Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-wiDpl_nuk  at 6mins 30secs). Perhaps she should be looking for a Greek government position…..