New Prime Minister for Greece

The new prime minister is Panayiotis Pikramenos, chief judge of the Council of State.

And there will be another general election on June 17th.

Local News - Yesterday, a 77 year old woman was robbed of 46,000 euro which she had just taken out of the National Bank in Agios Nikolaos.

 

What if Greece Exits Euro?

Viewpoints: What if Greece exits euro?

If Greece left the euro, inflation and unemployment would probably rise

Greek politicians are struggling to form a new government.

There are powerful factions that do not want the austerity measures imposed on Greece by its international lenders.
But unless Greece can satisfy the demands of the European Union and the IMF, then they will cut off Greece's last remaining lines of credit.
Without that, Greece will not be able to pay its bills and could drop out of the euro altogether.
Below are the views of several experts on what would happen if Greece were to leave the euro.

Carsten Brzeski, senior economist, ING Belgium

Chaos. Greek banks would go bust. Greek companies would go bust. Unemployment would go up. The new drachma loses lots of value.
Food and energy prices go through the roof. It would be an explosive cocktail.
The turmoil would weigh on growth. The outlook for the eurozone would worsen.

Michael Arghyrou, senior economics lecturer, Cardiff Business School

The drachma would be devalued by at least 50%, causing inflation.
Interest rates will have to double and all mortgages, business loans and other borrowing will become much more expensive.
There will be no credit for Greek banks or the Greek state.
That could mean a shortage of basic commodities, like oil or medicine or even foodstuffs.
A lot of Greek firms rely on foreign suppliers, who may cut off Greek customers. Greek companies could be driven out of business.
Greece will lose its only reference point of stability, which was its euro status.
The country would end up in a volatile period. There would be institutional weakness.
The worst case scenario would be a social and economic breakdown, perhaps even leading to a totalitarian regime.

Sony Kapoor, managing director of the Re-Define think tank

I think that either the Greeks or European policy makers talking about an exit in a casual blase way are being highly, highly irresponsible.
Total cost versus the total benefit remains overwhelmingly negative, both for the eurozone and Greece.
In one shot, a Greek exit could undo a large part of good work in Ireland and Portugal.
If you are a Portuguese saver with money in the bank, even if there is a small likelihood of losing that money, it would make perfect sense to move euro deposits while you can to a safer haven, like the Netherlands and Germany.
There would be a significant deposit flight in peripheral countries.
It would immediately weigh on investment in the real economy, because corporations would be very reluctant to invest anything at all.

Megan Greene, director of European economics at Roubini Global Economics

You would see cascading bank defaults in Greece and everybody would take money out of Portuguese and Spanish banks.
A big part could be plugged by the European Central Bank (ECB) through a liquidity operation that would backstop the banks.
The ECB has already done that several times and it would step up to the plate again.
But that would not stem the political contagion or unrest. We have seen four elections in two weeks. In Greece, France, Italy and Germany, electorates have voted against austerity at home.
However, Greece is a small country and the rest of the eurozone has been making provision for this for a long time now.
The eurozone could survive a Greek exit. Depending on the choreography, the exit could be better for everyone involved if managed in a co-ordinated orderly way.
But if it were done by a unilateral default, an exit would be a worse option for Greece.

Jeremy Stretch, head of forex research, CIBC

In the currency market, we are already seeing money fleeing to safe havens.
The alternatives are few and far between for those who want to stand aside from the euro.
The dollar is performing relatively well. The dollar index - the dollar against a basket of other major currencies - is at the highest level in two months.
A new drachma would not be the most widely trading currency in the world and would probably drop in value by 50%.

Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk, IHS Global Insight

What everyone is missing is a third possibility.
If credit is withdrawn by the EU and IMF, then Greece becomes a cash economy. It means the government can only pay what it collects.
The government starts shutting down, 10-15% of state employees don't get paid and unemployment surges from 20% to 30%.
But Greece can still use the euro.
It would be difficult for the ECB to keep banks afloat. The Greek banking sector would collapse as well.
That would cause more unemployment, as credit for companies would dry up.
What happens next is a political question.
European nations would probably not accept another Western European country descending into chaos and collapse.
The EU and IMF would probably negotiate some kind of aid. But Greece could continue with the euro.

Article from Ekathimerini today.

Music Soiree May 2012 - Year 4

My progress after three and a half years of study. I am looking forward to improving - onwards and upwards, as they say.

I'm just back from our Poetry Club meeting, we are still trying to establish a group, but today we did get a couple of visitors.

And now I'm going to relaxe for an hour before having a sort out in the back garden.

Byeeeeeee! Jane x

Ladies Wot Dine Out!

Rosemarie's birthday was celebrated in style last night. We all enjoyed a good girlie natter while we stuffed with food and the odd glass of wine in Latsida. It was a lovely night out, whose birthday is it next? (Thanks for the picture Lydia).

And today was another wonderful day in the company of friends at Fourni, where we had a little music soiree. (Pictures later)

Poetry club tomorrow in Neapolis - life is on the up! God knows the political news is depressing enough, I think it is best to just sit back and wait for the crash, then just ride with it when it comes. All this newspaper stuff is doing my head in. I need space to create, move over all things to do with the euro and Europe, I feel joyous words clamouring to be expressed!

Bye for now,
Jane x

Fixing Sissi Harbour - Work to Begin Soon

 According to a report in the Vrachasi Blog, work will begin to fix the harbour wall at Sissi in the next few days.


This is a short translation from the blog:

 About cleaning the harbor Sissi inform our readership that became the 3.5.2012 auction, which was attended by two contractors.
There was some objection, so the successful contractor is Mr. Dimitris Atsalakis.
Hopefully in a few days will start to clean and will not go elsewhere tourist boats ...

Jane x

Olympic Flame in Agios Nikolaos

Την Παρασκευή 11/5/12 στις 3.00 μ.μ. στη Λίμνη η υποδοχή της Ολυμπιακής Φλόγας στον Άγιο Νικόλαο 

Friday 11/5/12 at 3 p.m. at the lake, Agios Nikolaos

ND and Pasok dominance dealt 'fatal blow'

by George Gilson 6 May 2012

The Greek electorate dealt a fatal blow to the decades-old hegemony of the two parties, Pasok and New Democracy, that approved the harsh EU-IMF bailout memorandum. New Democracy placed first as expected, but its 19.18 percent is a far cry for a parliamentary majority, and a steep drop from its 33.5 percent when ND was routed in 2008. Many expected a strong backlash from the centrist, liberal faction of the party, which has criticised leader Antonis Samaras’ strategy. The results noted are as announced at 9.30 pm, with about a fifth of the votes counted, by the Singular Logic company that is processing the returns. ND was decimated by its leader’s decision to expel about 20 MPs that voted down the bailout memorandum. The Independent Greeks, an ND splinter party, is garnering 10.5 percent. Party leader Panos Kammenos suggested that MPs may break party lines to form an ant-memorandum coalition, and he alluded to possible leadership challenges in parties. The astounding success of the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza), which is poised with 16.5 percent, to become the main opposition, is the greatest upset of the election. That guarantees party leader Alexis Tsipras an exploratory mandate, if Samaras fails to form government, to see if he can form a left-wing anti-memorandum government, as he pledged. The total collapse of Pasok is the most dramatic development in the election, as its 13.6 percent is about 30 percentage points less than its 2009 showing. Only in the 1970s, before the party first came to power, did it record a lower result. Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos said there was no clear mandate for any single party. He called for a national unity government, comprised of all pro-EU parties, regardless of their position on the harsh fiscal adjustment programme. Venizelos said that the electorate completely upset the political scene, and he attributed the electoral disaster to the fact that Pasok on its own had to manage the crisis all on its own. “We embittered the people to protect the future of the nation. History will judge,” Venizelos said after the 9.30pm results. “Let the God of Greece help us!” he proclaimed, declaring that the party must be “reborn”. Venizelos noted that a Pasok-ND coalition is not feasible, and that a coalition government needs broader participation. “We are back to where we started in 1974,” Pasok MP Petros Efthimiou told private Mega TV after Venizelos’ statement.  Parties that are pro-EU but oppose the memorandum include Fotis Kouvelis’ Democratic Left, which is expected to receive about six percent. Panos Kammenos’ anti-memorandum Independent Greeks is not anti-EU per se, but Kammenos says he will not cooperate with the leaders of Pasok and ND, whom he denounces as “traitors”. The Communist Party (KKE) appeared to gain little support from the crisis, as its 8.5 percent is just a tad higher than the 7.54 percent it received in 2009. The entry into parliament of the extreme right Golden Dawn party, with a projected seven percent, is one of the most alarming results of the election. That would give the neo-Nazi party about 22 seats in the 300 member legislature. Three parties appear to be a hair’s breadth from entering parliament. Both right wing Laos and the Ecogreens are projected to receive about 2.9 percent, a sliver shy of the three percent threshold. Dora Bakoyannis’ Democratic Alliance garnered 2.7 percent in the 9:30 pm projections, based on 50 percent of the nationwide count. Report from the Athens News 7 May 2012 So, it is far from over!  Jane x