Thursday June 18, 2015
Kaieteur News
Page 23
Greece’s future in EU in doubt if talks fail, central bank warns Greece’s leftist government faced a barrage of warnings yesterday that it risked being forced out of the euro zone and left without support if it failed to strike a swift aid-for-reforms deal with its creditors. The Bank of Greece said the country’s future in the European Union itself could also be at risk without a deal, underlining the extent to which officials who once refused any suggestion of “Grexit” are now openly discussing the prospect. Despite urgent pleas, including from the White House, there has been little sign of movement since talks between officials from Greece, the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund collapsed on Sunday. Hopes of a breakthrough today at a meeting of European finance ministers, once seen as the last opportunity for an agreement, looked increasingly remote. Athens must find a way out of the impasse by the end of June, when it faces a 1.6 billion euro (£1.14 billion) repayment due to the International Monetary Fund, potentially leaving it bankrupt and on the verge of exiting the euro zone. “People are getting anxious on both sides. Athens expects Brussels to move. And Brussels expects Athens to move. And it’s
stuck,” said a senior EU diplomat, who declined to be named. “It’s very dangerous, and we may have an accident.” A top Greek negotiator told Reuters that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ leftist government was ready to make unspecified concessions but he once again ruled out any cuts to pensions - a major sticking point in the negotiations. In Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, government and central bank officials said it was up to Greece to move. “The responsibility for whether Greece remains in the euro is entirely up to the Greek government,” Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank said in a joint interview with three European newspapers. He added that if Athens were to fail to meet a debt payment “the consequences would be hard to control” but it could not expect central bank support. “If the talks fail at the political level the ECB will have no choice but to draw the necessary conclusions. It is up to politics, governments and parliaments to decide whether to finance Greece.” Greek negotiator Euclid Tsakalotos confirmed that Greece did not have the money to repay the IMF, but said the government would
only accept a deal that was sustainable and addressed debt, financing and investment - issues the European Union has said it does not want to open at this stage. “If you have that, then the Greek government will sign the deal,” Tsakalotos said. “If it doesn’t have that kind of deal there is no point in signing onto something that you know is going to fail.” Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told reporters in Paris he was not expecting a deal at Thursday’s gathering in Luxembourg and said only agreement between heads of government could overcome the deadlock. UNCHARTED WATERS What may follow if no deal is reached remains unclear as no member of the euro zone has ever defaulted on its debt. The Greek central bank said reaching an accord was “an historical imperative” that the country could not ignore. “Failure to reach an agreement would ... mark the beginning of a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country’s exit from the euro area and, most likely, from the European Union,” the Bank of Greece said in a regular report. The comment drew an angry reaction from the ruling
Syriza party which said Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras, a former finance minister in a conservative-led government, had exceeded his authority and was trying to set “asphyxiating” limits on the government. Elected in January on a pledge to end years of grinding austerity, Tsipras wants his European partners to re-negotiate Greece’s debt mountain, but they have ruled that out for now and instead want to see a fresh round of economic reforms, including pension cuts, to help the state balance its books. There was little sign of any change in his position as he insisted that without an “honourable compromise” Greece would not accept “the continuation of a catastrophic policy”. Months of uncertainty have already taken their toll. After years of recession, Greece’s economy finally
started to grow again last year, but it fell back into negative growth in the first quarter of 2015 and Greece’s central bank predicted the slowdown would accelerate in the second quarter. Opinion polls show a majority of Greeks want to remain in the euro but there has also been deep resentment over the cuts demanded of Greece, which has seen its economy shrink by more than 25 percent since the start of the crisis. “We have to fight even if there is the danger of returning to (the) drachma, which is something I don’t want,” said 43 year-old public servant Christos Michailidis, attending an anti-austerity rally in Athens that drew a few thousand protesters. Britain, not a member of the euro zone, said it was stepping up preparations for the possibility of Greece falling out of the single currency.
New embassy in Taiwan not costing St. Lucia a cent, government says Dr. Kenny Anthony
Jamaican govt. to consider Diaspora vote
A. J. Nicholson MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — Minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, Senator A. J. Nicholson, says the matter of allowing overseas nationals to participate in the country’s electoral process will be discussed at length, in order for the best arrangement to be put in place. Addressing the opening of the sixth Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference in Montego Bay weekend, Nicholson said the matter has been receiving attention and
has been included in the draft national Diaspora policy. The policy, aimed at enhancing Jamaica’s social and economic development, is ready to be taken to the Cabinet for deliberation. “Certainly, the issue of political representation is one that will have to be thoroughly ventilated and resolved. Indeed, this complex issue is foreseen in the draft policy, an extract of which participants will have in their possession, and we welcome therefore your
feedback and believe that all ideas should contend,” he said. Nicholson stated that the government is committed to engaging the Diaspora on issues of national development. “This conference is a testament, therefore, to the notion of a borderless Jamaica that embraces all our people wherever they happen to be and gives even greater resonance to our motto – ‘Out of Many, One People,’” he noted. Nicholson said it is anticipated that the national Diaspora policy will have bipartisan support, and it will deepen engagement between Jamaica and its Diaspora. The Jamaica Diaspora Conference runs from June 13 to 18 under the theme: ‘Jamaica and the Diaspora: Linkage for Growth and Prosperity’. Matters relating to economics, diplomacy and security, as well as trade and investments, will be high on the discussion agenda.
CASTRIES, St Lucia The St. Lucia government has responded to calls for details about the opening of its Embassy in Taiwan, saying there was no mystery behind it and it did not cost the island a cent. The statement from the Dr. Kenny Anthony administration follows a call from the opposition United Workers’ Party (UWP) for answers to “the mysteries surrounding the opening of an Embassy in the Republic of China in Taiwan”. “It has become commonplace for the United Workers Party to invent and create mysteries where none exist,” the government said, noting that the announcement about the new Embassy – which opened in the International Trade Building in Taipei on June 4 – was made since February 12 this year by Minister for External Affairs, Civil Aviation and International Trade Alva Baptiste during an official trip to Taiwan, and raised again
on May 15 during the minister’s contribution to the Budget debate, and no questions were asked of him them. “The opening of the Embassy comes at no cost to the government of St. Lucia. Mindful of our fiscal challenges, the government of St. Lucia secured the agreement of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the Cooperation Agreement that exists between the two states, to fund the cost of the Embassy in its initial year of operation.” According to the prime minister, the facility will serve the needs of St. Lucian students studying in Taiwan. There are more than 80 of them currently, and Anthony said that number is expected to increase in coming years. “Besides, the establishment of the Embassy gives us a presence in the vital Asian region to mobilize investment and trade opportunities for St. Lucia,” he added.
In a sign that the European Central Bank was still standing by Greece, the ECB raised the ceiling on its emergency lifeline to the nation’s stricken banks to 84.1 billion euros from 83 billion. The ECB has been raising the ceiling in small amounts and the substantial hike of more than 1 billion euros reflected the growing strains on Greece’s banks as depositors pull money out. The Greek central bank has said the crisis prompted an outflow of deposits totalling about 30 billion euros from Greek lenders between October and April. The outflows are continuing. Underlining the gulf in perceptions separating Greece and its creditors, a Greek parliamentary “Debt Truth Committee” set up in April to investigate the recent austerity imposed on the country concluded Athens was under no obligation to repay its debts. The findings of the report are not binding. “We came to the conclusion that Greece should not pay this debt because it is illegal, illegitimate, and odious,” it said. Such sentiments have lost Greece much sympathy in Europe. The Bavarian allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Athens on Wednesday of not grasping the seriousness of the situation, with CSU SecretaryGeneral Andreas Scheuer calling Greek rulers “clowns”.
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