{"id":393953,"date":"2010-03-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-6399005575773134114"},"modified":"2010-03-05T10:00:22","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T15:00:22","slug":"greece-news-update-thousands-protest-as-parliament-debates-economiccrisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/393953","title":{"rendered":"Greece News Update: Thousands Protest As Parliament Debates Economic\nCrisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Riot police in Greece attack workers and youth who are protesting the collapse of the country. The world capitalist economic system has manifested itself in numerous European countries including Portugal.<\/a>
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

MARCH 5, 2010, 8:47 A.M. ET<\/p>\n

Greece Debates Budget Cuts As Thousands Protest<\/p>\n

By Alkman Granitsas
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES<\/p>\n

ATHENS (Dow Jones)–The Greek parliament Friday continued to debate the government’s recently announced austerity package as workers around the country walked off the job in a series of hastily announced strikes to protest the measures.<\/p>\n

Outside parliament, a tense protest of several thousand people was
marred by violence when youths attacked and injured the head of
Greece’s largest union, private-sector GSEE, as he was delivering a
speech at a rally.<\/p>\n

There were also clashes in two separate, small-scale incidents in
which several dozen protesters scuffled with police, hurling
projectiles while police responded with teargas.<\/p>\n

In a nod to the protests and strike actions taking place around the
country, Greece’s finance minister acknowledged that public discontent was understandable.<\/p>\n

“Will we have to take other measures? No. These measures are enough if we implement them and we will,” Papaconstantinou said in parliament ahead of a vote on the package, which is expected later Friday.<\/p>\n

Although recent public opinion polls show general support for the
government, one poll released by privately owned SKAI television
Friday, shows that 62% of Greeks expect social unrest in the country
to rise. But the same poll shows that 78% of respondents think the
austerity measures will be implemented nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Around the country, services were disrupted by a 24-hour strike
affecting public transport in the country’s two major cities that
snarled traffic in parts of central Athens.<\/p>\n

Rail workers, teachers, journalists at the state-owned television
station and news agency, as well as hospital doctors, utility workers
and some local government staff have also declared a day of protest.<\/p>\n

Coinciding with their rally, GSEE and its public sector counterpart,
ADEDY, have also called a three-hour work stoppage for Friday, which has affected some banks and the national phone company, while more than a dozen flights have been canceled by Greece’s two airlines, Olympic Airlines and Aegean Airlines SA (AEGN.AT), because of a walkout by air traffic controllers.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters at the rallies, the heads of the two unions
announced plans for a 24-hour general strike as soon as next week.<\/p>\n

“We have decided to hold a joint 24-hour general strike on March 11,”
Spyros Papaspyros, the head of the civil servants union ADEDY, told
Dow Jones Newswires. But a previously announced March 16 strike by ADEDY alone has been called off.<\/p>\n

The protest comes two days after Greece’s socialist government–under pressure from the European Union and financial markets–announced an EUR4.8 billion austerity package as it aims to cut its budget deficit to 8.7% of gross domestic product this year, from an estimated 12.7% last year.<\/p>\n

The latest austerity measures, part of a series of packages aimed at
slashing Greece’s deficit, are also widely seen as a precondition for
any possible European Union aid for the country.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou met in Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup forum of euro-zone finance ministers, before meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin later Friday.<\/p>\n

The visits are part of a five-day, whistle-stop tour of foreign
capitals by Papandreou that comes as the Greek government struggles to fix its public finances amid talk of a possible rescue plan for the country.<\/p>\n

Apart from the meeting with Merkel, which will be closely watched for
signs of an aid package, Papandreou is also scheduled to meet Sunday French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, and Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.<\/p>\n

In his remarks to parliament, Papaconstantinou called on Greece’s
European partners to live up to their obligations.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, the European Union must live up to its responsibilities
and it is not doing it,” he said, adding that no specifics of the
rescue plan have been forthcoming even though the Greek government has pressed ahead with ever-tougher deficit cuts.<\/p>\n

In a further sign of protest against the measures, Greece’s Communist Party withdrew from the parliamentary debate Friday as its 21 parliamentarians walked out of parliament.<\/p>\n

“There is nothing to debate about these measures,” said Communist
Party head Aleka Papariga. “We are withdrawing from the debate. The issue will be judged on the streets.”<\/p>\n

-By Alkman Granitsas, Dow Jones Newswires; +30 210 331 2881;
alkman.granitsas@dowjones.com<\/p>\n

Merkel pledges to stand by Greece<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pledged to “stand helpfully by
Greece’s side” but her economy minister said Germany would not offer a cash bailout.<\/p>\n

Mrs Merkel was speaking ahead of a meeting in Berlin with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.<\/p>\n

He is facing increased pressure at home as Greece’s two main unions have called a new general strike.<\/p>\n

The strike, on 11 March, is to protest against austerity cuts the
unions say are “anti-popular” and “barbaric”.<\/p>\n

Public sector workers are currently striking, and rock-throwing
protestors outside parliament have clashed with police, who used tear gas to disperse them.<\/p>\n

BBC correspondent Malcolm Brabant said the mood on the streets in
Athens had degenerated after three months of relatively mild protests.<\/p>\n

TV pictures showed officers spraying gas into the face of veteran
left-winger Manolis Glezos, who is in his mid-80s. Mr Glezos climbed
the wall of the Acropolis to tear down the Swastika during the Nazi
occupation.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Mr Papandreou revealed further tax rises and spending cuts that have gone down very badly with public sector workers, but could reduce the risk of Greece needing help.<\/p>\n

Members of the Socialist-led Greek parliament are set to approve the
austerity measures on Friday.<\/p>\n

‘Not a cent’<\/p>\n

Despite mounting speculation about an EU bail-out, most Germans oppose giving aid to a country that has misreported budget figures for years to hide its mountain of debt.<\/p>\n

Chancellor Merkel has warned that the euro is in the most difficult
phase since its creation.<\/p>\n

Few doubt that Mrs Merkel will eventually take action if she sees the
stability – or credibility – of the euro under threat.<\/p>\n

But with support for her centre-right coalition slipping, Mrs Merkel
has reassured voters that she will not use taxpayers’ money, nor
breach the “no bail-out clause” in the EU’s Maastricht Treaty.<\/p>\n

A recent poll shows that 71% of Germans think the EU should not help Greece at all. You could call it a culture clash. Germans are big
savers, not big spenders.<\/p>\n

Mr Papandreou hopes the talks with Mrs Merkel will lead to a German
commitment to provide support if Greece cannot raise money from the markets.<\/p>\n

However, reports of potential support for Greece are proving unpopular in Germany as many people do not support their taxes being used for bailouts.<\/p>\n

Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said earlier that his government
“does not intend to give a cent” to Greece in financial aid.<\/p>\n

There are also fears that rescuing one country could encourage others to expect the same.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Germany passed its budget for 2010, with borrowing set to soar this year.<\/p>\n

New borrowing is expected to reach 80.2bn euros ($109bn; \u00a372.5bn) – double the previous highest debt record, set in 1996. However this is less than the 85.8bn euros initially proposed by the government.<\/p>\n

Raising funds<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Greek government went to the financial markets to
borrow money and saw its 5bn euro ($6.8bn; \u00a34.5bn) bond issue
oversubscribed.<\/p>\n

Mrs Merkel welcomed the uptake. “The placement of the bond yesterday went very well and that is of course a good signal for the markets,” she said.<\/p>\n

But Greece will need to borrow more in the coming months – more than $70bn for the year as a whole.<\/p>\n

Mr Papandreou has suggested that Greece might go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help.<\/p>\n

But the other countries in the eurozone would not welcome what would be seen as a sign that they could not fix their own problems.<\/p>\n

The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, has dismissed the idea of the IMF providing financial aid for Greece.<\/p>\n

“I do not trust that it would be appropriate to have the introduction
of the IMF as a supplier of help through standby or through any kind
of such help,” he told reporters in Frankfurt on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Mr Papandreou will also meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Sunday before travelling to Washington to meet US President Barack Obama on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Story from BBC NEWS:
http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/pr\/fr\/-\/2\/hi\/business\/8551227.stm
Published: 2010\/03\/05 13:27:30 GMT<\/p>\n

March 5, 2010
Editorial<\/p>\n

A.I.G., Greece, and Who\u2019s Next?<\/p>\n

As Greece has tottered on the brink of fiscal chaos, threatening to
drag much of Europe down with it, Wall Street\u2019s role in the fiasco has
drawn well-deserved scorn.<\/p>\n

First came the news that Greece had entered into derivatives
transactions with Goldman Sachs and other banks to hide its public
debt. Then came reports that some of those same banks and various hedge funds were using credit default swaps \u2014 the type of derivative that kneecapped the American International Group \u2014 to bet on the likelihood of a Greek default and using derivatives to wager on a drop in the euro.<\/p>\n

European leaders have called for an inquiry into the Greek crisis. Ben
Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, has told Congress that the Fed is \u201clooking into\u201d Wall Street\u2019s deals with Greece, and the Justice Department is investigating the euro bets. That is better than turning a blind eye, but it is not nearly enough.<\/p>\n

The bigger problem is in America, where markets are supposed to be fair and transparent. These particular \u2014 and particularly complicated \u2014 instruments are traded privately among banks, their clients and other investors with virtually no regulation or oversight.<\/p>\n

The Obama administration and Congress have been talking for a year about fixing the derivatives market. Big banks have been lobbying to block change. And the longer it takes, the weaker the proposed new rules become.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the problems that must be fixed:<\/p>\n

NO TRANSPARENCY<\/p>\n

Derivatives are supposed to reduce and spread risk. In a credit
default swap, for instance, a bond investor pays a fee to a
counterparty, usually a bank, that agrees to pay the investor if the
bond defaults. But because the markets in which they trade are largely unregulated, derivatives can too easily become tools for dangerous risk-taking, vast speculation and dodgy accounting.<\/p>\n

A big part of the problem is that derivatives are traded as private
one-on-one contracts. That means big profits for banks since clients
can\u2019t compare offerings. Private markets also lack the rules that
prevail in regulated markets \u2014 like capital requirements, record
keeping and disclosure \u2014 that are essential for regulators and
investors to monitor and control risk.<\/p>\n

That is why it is so essential to move derivative trades onto fully
transparent exchanges. The administration originally embraced that
idea, with exceptions only for occasional, unique contracts. But when
the Treasury proposed legislation in August, it included huge
loopholes, and a derivative reform bill that passed the House in
December has many of the same problems. (The Senate has yet to
introduce a reform bill.)<\/p>\n

Both the administration and the House would exclude from exchange
trading the estimated $50 trillion market in foreign exchange swaps \u2014similar to the derivatives Greece used to hide its debt. The rationale for the exclusion never has been clearly explained.<\/p>\n

The Treasury proposal and House bill also would exclude transactions that occur between big banks and many of their corporate clients from the exchange trading requirement, ostensibly because those deals are only for minimizing business risks, not for speculation or for window-dressing the books. That\u2019s debatable. But even if true, other derivatives users would almost inevitably find ways to exploit such a broad exemption.<\/p>\n

What is clear about the exemptions is that they would help to preserve banks\u2019 profits. What is also clear is that they would defeat the goals of reform: to lower risk, increase transparency and foster efficiency.<\/p>\n

LIMITED POWER TO STOP ABUSES<\/p>\n

When the House put out a draft of new rules in October, it sensibly
gave regulators the power to ban abusive derivatives \u2014 ones that are
not necessarily fraudulent, but potentially damaging to the system.
Derivatives investors who stand to make huge profits if a company or
country defaults, for example, might try to provoke default \u2014 a
situation that regulators should be able to prevent. In the final
House bill, however, the ban was replaced with a requirement that
regulators simply report to Congress if they believe abuses are
occurring.<\/p>\n

NO STATE REGULATION, EITHER<\/p>\n

Current law also exempts unregulated derivatives from state
antigambling laws. That means that states have no power to police
their use for excessive speculation. Treasury and House reform
proposals have called for maintaining the federal pre-emption of state antigambling laws. Pre-emption could be tolerable if derivatives were traded on fully regulated exchanges. But as long as many derivative products and transactions are exempted from fully regulated exchange trading, pre-emption of state antigambling laws is a license for, well, gambling.<\/p>\n

The big banks claim that derivatives are used to hedge risk, not for
excessive speculation. The best way to monitor that claim is to
execute the transactions on fully regulated exchanges, pass rules and laws to ensure stability, and appoint and empower regulators with independence and good judgment to enforce compliance.<\/p>\n

Without effective reform, the derivative-driven financial crisis in
the United States that exploded in 2008, and the Greek debt crisis,
circa 2010, will be mere way stations on the road to greater
calamities.
<\/p>\n

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Riot police in Greece attack workers and youth who are protesting the collapse of the country. The world capitalist economic system has manifested itself in numerous European countries including Portugal.Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos MARCH 5, 2010, 8:47 A.M. ET Greece Debates Budget Cuts As Thousands Protest By Alkman GranitsasOf DOW JONES […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}