Germany wants Britain to join soon the Euro

The reality of the Eurozone disaster is evolving faster than many anticipated and governments are struggling to react promptly. Germany has clearly lost any hope to solve the crisis and it is moving to plan B, a two-tier Europe with Britain being dragged inside the core zone to compensate for the loss of Italy and Spain. In the meanwhile despite the Euro riot inside the British Parliament with over 80+ MPs revolting against the Prime Minister on the Euro membership it is quite astonishing to hear from the German Finance Minister that Britain will join the Euro and that “This may happen more quickly than some people in the British Isles currently believe,”. What is going on behind the scene is for all of us to wonder!



From The Telegraph: Britain will have to join the euro, says Tory grandee Lord Heseltine

Britain will soon have no choice but to join the euro, Tory grandee Lord Heseltine has claimed, as tensions grow over the eurozone's slow-moving efforts to get a grip on the spreading debt crisis.

The former deputy prime minister, a long-time supporter of the single currency, said the public had "no idea" about the potential impact its collapse would have on the UK.

But he believes Franco-German determination will secure the euro's future and pave the way for Britain to sign up.

Both the Coalition and the Labour Party have ruled out adopting the euro in the foreseeable future.

Last month Prime Minister David Cameron suffered the biggest ever Conservative revolt over Europe as more than 80 Conservative MPs defied his orders and backed a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.

German Finance Minister Says UK will Join Euro

Please consider Britain 'will join euro before long’, says German finance minister

Wolfgang Schäuble said that, despite the current crisis in the eurozone, the euro will ultimately emerge as the common currency of the entire European Union. He said he “respects” Britain’s decision to keep the pound, but insisted that the survival and eventual stabilisation of the euro will convince non-members to join the currency club. “This may happen more quickly than some people in the British Isles currently believe,” he added.

Mr Schäuble also said Germany will stand firm on its call for a financial transaction tax that Britain believes would badly harm the City of London.

Sir John Major, the former prime minister, warned last night that the growing integration of the eurozone nations threatens democracy in those countries. He told Al Jazeera television that richer euro members led by Germany and France will “insist on moving towards what we call fiscal union. By that I mean common control over budgets and fiscal deficits”.

Sir John, who advises David Cameron on foreign policy issues, also described the banking transaction tax as “a heat-seeking missile proposed in continental Europe, aimed at the City of London”.

Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, slam Euro recovery plan

It seems major events are ready to unfold and major games are being played right now to manipulate events and critical decisions that will have to be taken this week.

First we have Credit Suisse saying 66 European banks will fail the 3rd stress test, and will need hundreds of billions in fresh capital, something the market ignored entirely last week but that may be re-evaluated now that Germany is shattering the sweet dreams of business as usual with today's Schäuble and Merkel declaration. And few hours ago inexplicably, we have Deutsche Bank warning that France may well be put on downgrade review by year end.

"We highlight in this note that the French corporate sector is already financially stretched, with poor profitability and large borrowing requirements. We consider that the deterioration in economic conditions is now creating a distinct risk that France could be put under “negative watch” by the rating agencies before the end of this year. We think that France has the wherewithal to react to such an outcome and could avoid an outright downgrade by taking corrective measures quickly, but this naturally would be a very sensitive political decision a few months before a major election."

Why Credit Suisse or Deutsche Bank are starting to fore-say doom and gloom while putting at risk the recapitalization of banks all over Europe I have no idea. But something serious and dangerous is incoming.

Greece sovereignty massively limited by EU following bailout

The 5th bailout tranche to Greece, has now been approved.

From Reuters:

"Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to disburse a further 12 billion euros to Greece and said the details of a second aid package for Athens would be finalised by mid-September. After a conference call, the 17 euro zone ministers agreed that the fifth tranche of the 110-billion-euro bailout agreed with Greece in May 2010 would be paid by July 15, as long as the IMF's board signs off on the disbursement. The IMF is expected to meet on July 8 to approve it. The payment will allow Greece to avoid the immediate threat of default, but the country still needs a second rescue package, which is also expected to total around 110 billion euros and which will now likely only be finalised in September. Between now and then, finance ministers will work on the "precise modalities and scale" of the private sector's involvement in the second aid package, which Germany hopes will eventually total around 30 billion euros. Greece said it expected a final decision on a second bailout programme by mid-September to keep the country financed.


The question is how long will the money last, 1-2-3 months at best and then we are back again to square one.
Greece has 18.2 bn in debt payments in August, 12 billion clearly are not enough to cover the shortfall, where will they get the rest?


As if it was not enough 1 hour ago a new warning has been issued by the Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker. He warned Greeks that help from the EU and International Monetary Fund would have unpleasant consequences.


"The sovereignty of Greece will be massively limited," he told Germany's Focus magazine in the interview released on Sunday, adding that teams of experts from around the euro zone would be heading to Athens.
"One cannot be allowed to insult the Greeks. But one has to help them. They have said they are ready to accept expertise from the euro zone," Juncker said.
Juncker also said Greece must privatize on a scale similar to the sell off of East German firms in the 1990s.
"For the forthcoming wave of privatizations they will need, for example, a solution based on a model of Germany's 'Treuhand agency'," Juncker said, referring to the privatization agency that sold off 14,000 East German firms between 1990 and 1994.
Athens must sell off 5 billion euros in state assets this year alone or risk missing targets set under its EU/IMF program, which could cut off its funding needed to keep the government running and avoid a debt default.
"The current package of measures, which Athens has agreed to, will bring a solution to the Greek question," said Juncker. However, he added that the Greek tax collection system was "not fully functional."
Financial markets still see an 81 percent chance that Greece will eventually default, and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Der Spiegel in an interview that Berlin was making preparations for such an event -- even though it does not expect it to happen.