Ο ΔΡΟΜΟΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΗ ΔΙΚΤΑΤΟΡΙΑ ΜΕΤΑΓΛΩΤΙΣΜΕΝΟ

Euro exit could benefit Germany says Hans-Werner Sinn Influential economist says ‘Germany can exist without the euro’

Economist Hans-Werner Sinn said Germany should help struggling countries leave the euro

Derek Scally

Germany would have nothing to fear and much to gain from exiting the euro area, according to influential economist Hans-Werner Sinn.

That claim by the outspoken Prof Sinn, head of Munich’s Ifo institute, is likely to put wind in the sails of Germany’s burgeoning anti-euro political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“Naturally Germany can exist without the euro. The exit horror stories painted are all overblown,” Prof Sinn told Die Welt yesterday.

“In particular, it’s not true that the export industry would collapse.”

The economics professor said it was important to challenge mainstream thinking in Germany that, cut loose from the euro, a new deutschmark would rapidly increase in value, prompting a drop in sales of more expensive German products and a rapid economic slowdown in Europe’s largest economy.

“A bit of an increase in (currency) value would do Germany good because the cheap imports would more than balance up the worse export business,” he said.

The Munich economics professor suggested the Bundesbank might mimic the Swiss central bank, which intervened on currency markets to ease exchange rate pressures by swapping foreign sovereign bonds for Swiss francs.

But anyone who thought Germany’s most outspoken economist was, with his remarks, joining the ranks of

Οι τράπεζες πάνω από τις χώρες

Γράφει ο Σταύρος Χριστακόπουλος
«Ο υπουργός Σόιμπλε είπε κατηγορηματικά στον κ. Τσίπρα ότι δεν υπάρχει εναλλακτική επιλογή από την… εφαρμογή του προγράμματος οικονομικής προσαρμογής. Ο υπουργός Σόιμπλε κάλεσε τον κ. Τσίπρα να υποστηρίξει τον δρόμο που έχει υιοθετηθεί».
Αυτή ήταν, σύμφωνα με το ρεπορτάζ του Reuters από το Βερολίνο, η διαρροή μετά τη συνάντηση του υπουργού Οικονομικών της Γερμανίας με τον επικεφαλής της αξιωματικής αντιπολίτευσης στην Ελλάδα. Σύμφωνα με το ίδιο ρεπορτάζ ο Σόιμπλε είπε στον Τσίπρα ότι «η Ελλάδα θα μπορέσει να μείνει στο ευρώ μόνον εάν το πρόγραμμα προσαρμογής εφαρμοστεί επιτυχώς».
Κατ’ άλλη εκδοχή, το ΥΠΟΙΚ της Γερμανίας χρησιμοποίησε διπλωματικά ηπιότερη έκφραση. Όμως η απαίτηση παραμένει: πιστή εφαρμογή των μνημονίων χωρίς «ανεπιθύμητες» παρεκκλίσεις.
Η υπενθύμιση του Σόιμπλε ήταν μάλλον περιττή, δεδομένου ότι ήδη ισχύει το περίφημο Δημοσιονομικό Σύμφωνο, το οποίο ορίζει επακριβώς την τήρηση των δρακόντειων κανόνων δημοσιονομικής προσαρμογής ως όρο παραμονής στο ευρώ – για να μην… ξεχνιόμαστε.
Αν μη τι άλλο η Γερμανία είναι απολύτως συνεπής στην πολιτική που έχει επιλέξει – υποτίθεται ως διέξοδο από την κρίση του ευρώ.
Η ηγέτιδα δύναμη της Ευρώπης ωστόσο δεν είναι συνεπής στις άλλες πολιτικές επιλογές της, όπως η ελάφρυνση των κρατών από τα βάρη των αμαρτωλών τραπεζών του ευρωσυστήματος. Τον περασμένο Ιούνιο, επί παραδείγματι, είχε αποφασιστεί ότι στο εξής η αναχρηματοδότηση των τραπεζών δεν θα γινόταν με ευθύνη των κρατών, αλλά από τον μηχανισμό ESM, τον οποίο

The Eurozone’s Rescue Fund: German High Court Capitulates to Bankers

As expected, the Court caved. On September 12, headlines reported it. The Financial Times said “German politicians declared the road clear for the creation of the eurozone’s (500 billion euro) rescue fund after the country’s constitutional court rejected a petition to block it.”At issue is does it matter? More on that below.Two Eurozone rescue schemes exist. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is running out of funds. Germany’s High Court approved the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Originally it was scheduled to take effect July 1. Germany’s parliament was still debating it. Constitutional Court approval is required.
It could have linked passage to constitutional law change. Doing so would have required Germany’s first post-war national referendum. It stopped short and approved what lacks legitimacy, and in the end won’t work.
On the one hand, countries are running out of resources. On the other, the ECB has few bullets left. Everything it tried so far failed. Constitutional approval changes nothing.
With it came conditions. The Financial Times said those imposed appear less onerous than feared. The Court

The EU's banking union is still a long way away

TOP STORIES / Business

Eurozone crisis

While the EU agrees that it needs a banking union, sorting out the details is somewhat tricky. Despite slow progress at the Cyprus summit, a common banking supervisory by January 2013 seems increasingly unlikely.

In a long and drawn-out night session at the EU summit at the end of June, the 27 heads of state and government of the European Union agreed to establish a banking union. The first step was to be the establishment of a supranational regulator to supervise eurozone banks by January 2013. Back in June the deal was summed up in just a few sentences - now, the EU's finance ministers were faced with sorting out the tricky details.
"One of the weaknesses that we see in the eurozone is the spiral between banks that need to be rescued, and the growing sovereign debt," Guntram Wolff from the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank told Deutsche Welle. In Ireland and Spain for instance, governments had to take on massive debts to rescue their country's

Germany's highest court approves creation of euro rescue fund

Judges at the German constitutional 

court in Karlsruhe, whose decision 

allows the European Stability 

Mechanism to go ahead. Photograph:

 Uli Deck/AFP/Getty Images

Germany's highest court has paved the way for the creation of a €500bn(£400bn) rescue fund to tackle the eurozone's debt crisis after a huge popular petition to block it was rejected.
The decision by the eight justices of the constitutional court in the south-western city of Karlsruhe allows Germany to ratify the treaty to establish the European stability mechanism (ESM) and will enable it to become effective next month. But an important condition attached to the ruling means that Germany's liabilities will be capped at €190bn, unless parliament rules otherwise.
The limitation will go some way to assuage the concerns of German taxpayers whose frustration at the prospect of having to bail out indebted southern European countries indefinitely has been on the rise. A poll before the ruling showed that 54% of Germans wanted the court to block the ESM.
Markets reacted positively to the decision with the euro reaching a four-month high, after the conditions imposed by the court, which had been widely expected to reject calls to block the fund, were less burdensome than German parliamentarians and other ESM supporters had feared.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, for whom the ruling is a personal breakthrough, allowing the

Angela Merkel hails German court's ruling on eurozone rescue fund

Angela Merkel said it was 'a good 

day for Germany, a good day

 for Europe'. Photograph: Johannes 

Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Angela Merkel said Germany's highest court had sent a powerful message to the rest of Europe and beyond, after it paved the way for the creation of a €500bn rescue fund to tackle the eurozone's debt crisis.
Markets rallied following the decision by the eight justices of the constitutional court in Karlsruhe to let Germany ratify a treaty to establish the European stability mechanism (ESM). The euro reached a four-month high and European stock markets rose after the court imposed conditions that were less burdensome than German parliamentarians and other ESM supporters had feared.
The ESM can now start up next month and become fully operational by the new year, despite the warnings of analysts who say it will not work. The ruling was considered one of the most important in the court's 61-year history.
A key condition attached to the ruling means that Germany's liabilities will be capped at €190bn. But the fact that the Bundestag and Germany's ESM representative can override the limitation led some observers to say it was a bluff, introduced to assuage the concerns of German taxpayers whose frustration at the prospect of

ΕΜΣ Ευρωπαϊκός μηχανισμός κατάχρησης εξουσίας.

European Union intensifies pressure on Greece for social cuts

by Christoph Dreier

On Monday Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos met for talks with his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle. Avramopoulos will be followed on Friday this week by Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who travels to Germany for discussions with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

These meetings aim to put pressure on Greece to commit to further social cuts while ruthlessly implementing those already agreed upon. In line with the credit agreement drawn up between Greece, the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year, Athens must slash at least 11.5 billion euros from its budget over the next two years.

After meeting with Avramopoulos, Westerwelle made clear that Berlin would oppose any “substantial watering down of the agreements” and would make minimal concessions or none at all. Greece’s future lies in the hands of the so-called troika—IMF, the EU Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB)—which are due to publish a report on Athens’ compliance with promises to implement drastic austerity.

The report is likely to be published in time for a Euro Finance Ministers meeting scheduled for September 14

German High Court’s ESM, Fiscal Pact Decision May Take Months

July 11 (Bloomberg) -- Germany’s top court said a decision on whether to suspend legislation for the euro bloc’s permanent bailout fund and fiscal treaty could take months rather than weeks due to the complexity of the ruling.

The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe heard arguments yesterday on whether to put German approval of the European Stability Mechanism and fiscal pact on hold until it rules on their legality. Both houses of parliament approved the new laws on June 29 with a two-thirds majority. German President Joachim Gauck withheld his signature due to legal challenges that were discussed at the hearing.

“The legislature fundamentally holds broad leeway for discretion, which the constitutional court must

European Stability Mechanism (ESM)

The Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has been signed 2 February 2012 and Brussels wants it to be in force 1 July 2012. However, before that, the Parliaments and Senats of the 17 euro-countries still have to vote  wether they accept this dangerous treaty or not. These procedures for the ratification have already started! We have to act very urgently and efficiently!

Short video 3'51''  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxMOW94V6xQ

English text of the treaty: http://www.european-council.europa.eu/media/582311/05-tesm2.en12.pdf
(If unavailable, here a copy )

ESM: Το μεγάλο κόλπο λεηλασίας! (ελληνικοί υπότιτλοι)