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haha - Greeks tell banks to FUK OFF !
love this so much, hope they pay zero back to those greedy pig dogs
Greece in meltdown: Government on edge of collapse amid fears of coup as Europe teeters on the brink of financial disaster
- Government teeters on the brink of collapse
- Generals face sack as coup rumours spread
- Markets plunge as fears for the Euro grow
By James Chapman
Last updated at 1:13 AM on 2nd November 2011
Europe was teetering on the edge of disaster last night as fears grew that The Greek government is about to collapse.
Markets nosedived around the world, with billions wiped off the value of Britain’s leading firms, as Athens announced extraordinary plans to sack its military leaders amid rampant speculation that it was trying to head off a coup d’etat.
‘It’s all over. The government is about to collapse,’ said one Greek official. Greece’s former deputy finance minister Petros Doukas agreed: ‘The **** has hit the fan.’
Protesters in the Greek city of Thessaloniki carrying banners written in German, 'One people, one Reich, one Euro', paraphrasing a Nazi slogan and 'No to a new (German) occupation. A Greek 'wanted' poster bearing the photos of PM George Papandreou and finance minister Evangelos Venizelos says 'Wanted by the Greek people'
Economists warned that if Greece rejects the debt deal hammered out only last week, which would entail years of austerity, the entire future of the single currency is in peril.
They predicted that Italy, Spain and Portugal are likely to be plunged into a profound economic crisis because of their failure to get to grips with their towering debts.
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Greek officials are due to meet for crisis talks today with France and Germany in Cannes, ahead of a G20 summit on which the European economy now appears to hinge.
As prime minister George Papandreou fought to save his own skin, he horrified other European leaders by proposing a referendum on the debt deal.
Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou took European leaders and many in his own parliament by surprise with his announcement of a referendum
This would be an effective vote on whether or not Greece should remain in the straitjacket of the single currency and accept years of spending cuts and tax rises, or simply refuse to pay what it owes and crash out of the euro.
Last night the referendum appeared dead in the water as his colleagues moved against the Greek leader, threatening a snap election that he looks certain to lose.
But the opposition is, if anything, more hostile to the bailout and austerity package than Mr Papandreou, and although there would be no referendum it would demand an even bigger write-down of the nation’s debts than the 50 per cent agreed with the EU and International Monetary Fund.
The sense of crisis in Athens – ruled by a military junta as recently as 1974 – was compounded by an unexpected announcement that Mr Papandreou intends to dismiss the chief of the defence staff and the heads of the army, navy and air force.
That raised speculation about the possibility of a military coup in Greece, an outcome said to have been deemed possible in a secret assessment by the CIA.
Greek-Cypriot Nobel economics laureate Professor Christopher Pissarides, of the London School of Economics, said: ‘Before 1974, when politicians were arguing and fighting, the military came in and said, “Come on now, let’s stop, there’s military rule until you sort it out”.
‘Since 1974, of course, democracy has worked, but it’s worrying when you have news about armed officers being replaced right in the middle of an economic crisis.’
Agreement: Germany's Chancellor Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have called a crisis meeting to push ahead with bailout plans after Greece announced it will hold a referendum on the deal
The Foreign Office in London played down the prospect of a military takeover, saying officials in Athens were insisting that the Government had planned for some time to clear out its top brass.
But one British diplomatic source said: ‘Clearly with everyone talking about the country being in turmoil, the timing is odd.’
The most likely scenario is that the government will press ahead with a vote of confidence on Friday, which it looks likely to lose. An interim government will then be appointed before a snap election.
Last night a Greek government spokesman said Mr Papandreou had told the Cabinet he would hold a referendum seeking approval of the bailout deal come what may, and was determined to win Friday’s vote of confidence.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the proposal for a referendum had ‘surprised all of Europe’ and the hard-fought European bailout plan for Greece was the ‘only way possible’ to resolve that nation’s debt crisis.
Anger: The austerity measures in Greece have sparked prolonged and violent protests but the people of the country will now decide how to move forward
WHY RUNNING THE COUNTRY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A FAMILY AFFAIR
American-born Georgios Papandreou helped cement the top political post in Greece into a dynasty as he is the third member of his family to lead the country in the last 65 years, after his father and grandfather.
Mr Papandreou, pictured above left with his father Andreas, has been leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party since February 2004 and became the 182nd prime minister of Greece in October 2009.
His grandfather George Papandreou Sr had three terms, between 1944 and 1945, in 1963, and then from 1964 to 1965.
While the current PM's father Andreas Papandreou served two terms, from 1981 to 1989, and then from 1993 to 1996.
In two separate polls, conducted in 2007 and 2010, Mr Papandreou, who was known to the public simply as 'Andreas', was voted as the best prime minister of Greece since democracy re-emerged in 1974. It is unlikely in light of recent events that his son will challenge him for this crown.
Mr Papandreou was elected in a landslide victory where the country's conservatives suffered one of their worst ever general election results.
On the back of a huge swell of public support and an emphatic majority he promised to reinvigorate Greece's stuttering economy by pumping in 3billion euros.
However it then came out that the country was in much more debt than first thought so he began to cut spending, bump-up taxes and slash public sector jobs, leading to national strikes.
Greece is effectively bankrupt and cannot pay off its debts, even with the tough austerity measures that have been forced upon it.
After fierce resistance, private banks and other investors agreed at a crunch summit in Brussels last week to write off 50 per cent of what its government owes.
The agreement was aimed at cutting Greek debt from 160 per cent of its earnings to 120 per cent by 2020. Without action, it would have ballooned to 180 per cent.
But the Greek people are furious at being asked to endure years of spending cuts and tax rises. There are increasing calls for the country to leave the euro, refuse to pay its way and reinstate the drachma.
In the Commons, Chancellor George Osborne said there was ‘no doubt’ that Greece’s decision to announce a referendum, slated to take place in January, had added to ‘instability and uncertainty’ in the eurozone.
He added: ‘Now ultimately it’s up to the Greek people and the Greek political system to decide how they make their decisions, but I would say it is extremely important for the eurozone to implement the package that they agreed last week, that is what I said was crucial at the time, that’s what they all said was crucial at the time and I think we need to get on with it sooner rather than later.’
Labour peer Lord Soley said: ‘When the history of this period is written it may well be that the Greek decision will be seen as the economic equivalent of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo in 1914. It will trigger events way beyond the borders of Greece or even Europe.’
Stock markets around the world crumbled yesterday as the eurozone lurched towards financial catastrophe. The FTSE 100 index fell more than two per cent in London – down 122.65 to 5421.57 – wiping £32billion off the value of Britain’s blue chip firms.
But there were far more punishing losses on the Continent, with shares in Italy and Greece down nearly seven per cent on a day of carnage on the financial markets. The Paris stock market lost 5.38 per cent, Frankfurt tumbled five per cent and the euro fell around 1.5 per cent against the U.S. dollar.
Shares in French banks were the worst hit on fears over their exposure to Greek debt. If Athens defaults, lenders in France look set to bear the greatest losses. One, Societe Generale, fell more than 16 per cent.
British banks did not escape the bloodbath, with Barclays losing 9.5 per cent of its value and state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland down eight per cent.
Borrowing costs in Italy soared again yesterday as the crisis threatened to spread from Athens to Rome.
Lord Adair Turner, head of the UK’s Financial Services Authority, warned that Italy’s towering debts of 120 per cent of GDP present a much bigger threat to Britain’s banks than Greece.
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Originally Posted by ** PICKS
Would have thought alot of opportunities present after a period of stability...
