Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts

Thursday, July 21, 2016

EU Parliament and Commission in Standoff Over Fines, Sovereignty

The fall out from this piece of news will probably be blamed on Brexit although it is absolutely nothing to do with Britain's decision to leave the EU and relates to chains of events that began several years ago. It anything can directly be blamed it is the debilitating effect of the European Single Currency system (the Euro) on the weaker economies among European Union member states. A secondary reason is that the unreasonable level of welfare payments impose by EU policy together with the rapid increase in population dues to EU imposed mass immigration policies makes balancing budgets impossible.

In another demonstration of the European Union becoming unjoined,the European Parliament is preparing to take on the dictatorial European Commission (EC), the unelected bureaucrats who make European policy and expect the elected assembly to rubber stamp it, over EC plans to impose penalties on Spain and Portugal for their failure to bring down their budget deficits. The European Parliament move challenges Brussels' right to impose penalties on sovereign states.

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council, July 12 ruled that Portugal and Spain had not reduced their deficits below 3% of GDP, the EU standard for government deficits, by the deadline. It also said efforts made by the two countries had been inadequate.

Commission Peresident Jean-Claude Juncker, nicknamed J-C Drunkard, is set to impose penalties on both countries on July 27. It will be the first time member states have had such sanctions imposed and in the eyes of many Members Of The European Parliament sets a dangerous precedent as it will be seen by the emerging nationalist parties in many member states as an attack on national sovereignty by the bureaucrats.

The penalties include a fines and withholding of funds. Although MEPs in the European Parliament are not part of the sanctions process, the assembly can demand "structural dialogue" over some of the sanctions, effectively halting, or at least reducing, some of them. The process could also delay imposition of the penalties while nationalist and anti - EU groups such as France's Front National, Five Star and Liga Nord in Italy, Alternatif fur Deutschland, The Danish People's Party, Netherlands' Freedom Party and the Sweden Democrats organise the opposition to this profoundly undemocratic course of action.

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz told Juncker and other European Commissioners that the Parliament would raise the issue of the withholding of millions of dollars of EU structural funds. This is the first time this situation has arisen and goes to the heart of power in Brussels, Lisbon and Madrid, bringing to the forefront of European politics the question of who really rules European Union member states, the democratically elected national governments or the unelected bureaucrats of Brussels.

Portugal's finance minister, Mario Centeno sent a letter July 18 to the Commission saying the fines would be unfair as the country is "on the right road to eliminate the excessive deficit" and that it would have "a highly negative impact" on the Portuguese people's support for the European project.

Spain has asked Brussels for two additional years to reduce the deficit. Its finance minister, Luis de Guindos wants the EU to allow it to reduce the deficit to 3 percent of GDP in 2018 instead of 2016.

RELATED POSTS:
After Brexit European Union Moves To Abolish Free Speech!

While European citizens are increasingly at risk of arrest for "hate speech" and "xenophobic remarks" (both terms for which there is no legal definition in any state of Europe,) the law does not apply equally to all Europeans, the ruling elites it sems can say what they like about whom they dislike.

Euroe democracy
Democracy and European integration
European Fascist Union?
Europe in free fall
Europe's anti integration movement grows
Euro bureaucratic empire
EU and the devastating effects of sanctions on Greece
Eurogeddon: the debt that is killing Europe
EU puts business before people
Europe not a democracy
Europe going down the drain

Elsewhere: [ The Original Boggart Blog] ... [ Daily Stirre.shtml ] ...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]... [ Ian's Authorsden Pages ]... [Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... [ Latest Posts ] [Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [Latest Posts] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [Ian at Minds ] ... [ Authorsden blog ] ... [Daily Stirrer News Aggregator]

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Hints Of Portuguese, Italian Bank Bailouts Suggest Europe Is In Trouble Again

Quitaly? Will Italy follow Britain out of the EU?

Following Germany's petulant refusal to allow Italy to breach Eurozone regulations, and pump up to €40 billion in new capital into its failing banks, Italy has another cunning plan to bail out its insolvent banks. Reuters reports, the Italian government may have to inject capital directly into weaker banks to bolster their financial stability a government source said on Thursday, adding Italy's treasury was waiting for the results of stress tests being conducted by European banking authorities. The results of the tests are expected to be published at the beginning of the third quarter , i.e.
next week.

Reuters report Italian sources said the government was also working on a plan to increase the firepower of bank bailout fund Atlante, which was set up in April to help lenders raise cash and sell bad debt, by 3-5 billion euros ($3.34-5.57 billion) by the summer. The source said the government was in talks with private pension funds to seek additional contributions for Atlante.

Other contributions were expected to come from the state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and from a public company called Societa per la Gestione di Attivita.

And then, surprisingly, the EU appears to have flipped when Reuters headlines emerged suggesting that Europe would provide up to €150 billion for Italian banks"

LIQUIDITY SUPPORT FOR ITALIAN BANKS INCLUDES GOVERNMENT GUARANTEES OF UP TO EUR150 BILLION --EU OFFICIAL
BANK LIQUIDITY SUPPORT WAS REQUESTED BY ITALY FOR PRECAUTIONARY REASONS --COMMISSION SPOKESWOMAN

But...

LIQUIDITY SUPPORT APPLIES ONLY TO SOLVENT ITALIAN BANKS --COMMISSION SPOKESWOMAN

Which, technically is none of them, but practically any bank can - after the sufficient non-GAAP adjustments - pass for solvent.

So is another major bank bailout event on the horizon? It appears so. And Italy may not be alone. In comments that were ignored by mainstream media yesterday, Germany's Schauble said that Portugal may soon need another bailout, saying "It would have to apply for a new program, which it would get. But the terms would be severe and it is not in Portugal's interests."

As Reuters reported, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble pressed Portugal on Wednesday to stick to its European fiscal targets and said that if it were to apply for a new aid program the terms would be harsh. Portugal's left-leaning acting government (which was imposed after an anti EU coalition won the last election but was prevented by Brussels from taking power,) has set out to reverse its predecessor's austerity policies, aiming to grow its way out of trouble by boosting demand and set an example for other post-bailout euro zone countries. So far there is no sign of the policy working.

"Portugal would be making a big mistake if it does not stick to its commitments," Schaeuble told a news conference in Berlin.

Pressed by journalists, Schaeuble stressed that Portugal would not need a new aid program if it sticks to EU rules. "They (the Portuguese) don't want it (a new package) and they don't need it if they stick to the European rules," he said. Portugal insists it will meet this year's budget deficit target of 2.2 percent, which is half last year's gap, and that no new measures will be necessary after solid budget execution in the first five months of the year. Schuble is recognised as a world class idiot of course, and he is playing to his strengths in ignoring the fact that it was EU rules that destroyed Portugal's economy in the first place.

And on top of that huge pile of brown, smelly stuff heading towards the fan, there's this:

World's Most Systemically Dangerous Bank Crashes Back To Record Lows

And that happens to be Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank. So what I mean about petulant. The Germans are playing at Billy big bollocks when dealing with bankrupt Italy and Portugal, but their own economy is not that much better off, thanks to Hausfrau - Volksfuhrer Merkel's idiotic open doors immigration policy.