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Europe tells Greeks to prepare for 'state of emergency' as talks collapse
Draghi urged to ignore “irresponsible” commentators
Mario Draghi has just begun his address in front of parliamentarians. He's promised us “a few words on the current situtation in Greece”. Hold tight.
Introducing the ECB president, the parliamentary speaker urged Mr Draghi to ignore the recent “irresponsible” comments from foreign commentators. Naming no names, but that might be a dig at this piece from German Wolfgang Munchau in the FT this morning, where he calls for Greece to cut their losses and choose a Grexit.
An excerpt:
Grexit, of course, has pitfalls, mostly in the very short term. A sudden introduction of a new currency would be chaotic. The government might have to impose capital controls and close the borders. Those year-one losses would be substantial, but after the chaos subsides the economy would quickly recover.
Comparing those two scenarios reminds me of Sir Winston Churchill’s remark that drunkenness, unlike ugliness, is a quality that wears off. The first scenario is simply ugly, and will always remain so. The second gives you a hangover followed by certain sobriety.
So if this were the choice, the Greeks would have a rational reason to prefer Grexit. This will, however, not be the choice to be taken this week. The choice is between accepting or rejecting the creditors’ offer. Grexit is a potential, but not certain, consequence of the latter.
Greek paper Kathimerini have got hold of the proposals from Athens which were subject to only 45mins of discussions last night. In the documents, the government plans to hit the proposed 1pc primary budget surplus target – this has been a key sticking point, with previous targets falling short of creditor demands.
The text says the government will hike VAT to yield €1.4bn for the state coffers, but would not increase rates on “basic goods, such as medicine, energy and fresh food”. They also plan to make administrative efficiencies amounting to €2.3bn.
The measures also include €200m in defence spending cuts, and €71m in pension cuts for 2016. According to reports at the weekend in Germany, Athens planned to offset its pension spending with military cuts. The plan was given the provisional go ahead by Jean Claude-Juncker and Angela Merkel, but was torpedoed by the IMF who are insisting on pension sustainability as a point of principle it seems.
The measures also include a luxury tax on private yachts, a tax on TV advertisments and a hike on corporate profits.
Credit to The Telegraph
http://nunezreport.blogspot.com/
Source: http://nunezreport.blogspot.com/2015/06/europe-tells-greeks-to-prepare-for.html
