Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Take all those figures being banded around with a very large pinch of salt. A lot of different agendas are being played out. The exit of Greece from the Euro along with other weaker countries could be the spark for a more solid recovery. The initial reaction would be severe but the lasting impact beneficial. It is very unlikely that all the Euro countries would revert to individual currencies but they may split up into two or three different currency blocks, perhaps with ailing Greece out on its own. Something has to change, Greece cannot keep getting bailed out.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
PIGS might fly.........without the weight of Euro-ambitions round their necks.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Sad but true. Life is full of missed opportunities.....
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
courtesy of the telegraph.
At a European Union summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister won a fight with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to keep Britain out of any new rescue package.
Germany had wanted to use money from the European Financial Stability Mechanism to bail out Greece. Britain is a contributor and has no veto on how its €11.85billion (£10.5billion) funds are used.
But Herman Van Rompuy, the EU president, said that the EFSM would "not be part of the package".
Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 index opened up more than 1pc as Greece secured the backing of European leaders late last night for its five-year austerity plan, which Greek ministers will vote on next Tuesday
Markets also rallied in Asia, with the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong climbing 1.8pc as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was confident that price rises would be kept firmly under control this year.
Speaking in Prague before flying to Brussels, Mr Cameron said it would be "quite wrong" to ask Britain to contribute to rescuing Greece, while German officials said the stability mechanism should be used.
Mr Cameron will also use the summit to argue that the EU should exempt small firms from new red tape. "This is the right outcome for the British taxpayer," said a Downing Street source.
Earlier this week, aware of the potential domestic outcry if Britain had to stump up billions for Greece, Chancellor George Osborne told fellow EU finance ministers at talks in Luxembourg that the UK did not expect to be called upon.
Flying to the summit for talks over dinner, Mr Cameron reinforced the message, saying that the UK wanted to see a healthy single currency - but one which dealt with its problems within the club of 17 eurozone member states.
When the eurozone suffered, the UK suffered, Mr Cameron acknowledged, and the UK would fulfil its financial obligations as a contributor to any International Monetary Fund support for the troubled Greek economy - to the tune of about one billion euros in loan guarantees.
But he said the UK government should not be expected to prop up Greece via a "European Financial Stability Mechanism" which commits all 27 member states to provide loan guarantees to a fellow member state in economic difficulties.
Summit officials said that pushing the issue to the brink and trying to force the UK into a bail-out - even though a qualified majority vote of the 27 leaders could push it through - would be too divisive.
A Downing Street source commented: "This is the right outcome for the British taxpayer."
