Eurozone leaders 'call off Greece crisis talks'

[dipsydoodle]

The head of the eurozone countries has downgraded an eurozone finance ministers meeting on Wednesday, saying Greece has not yet given the necessary assurances about its austerity plan.

Ministers, who had demanded Greece find an extra 325m euros of savings, had been set to meet in Brussels.

But Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said the talks would be replaced by a conference call.

He said technical work with Greece was still needed "in a number of areas".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17034677

[iandhr]

1. Seems Greece is between a rock and hard place.

[BelgianMadCow]

2. like I said earlier: will Samaris give his written commitment to implement

The Plan even after elections in april that he would likely win?

If he does that, I predict he will NOT win, and you'll see a big win farl left + far right. I see people far left and right agreeing more and more on comments pages here as well. It's just the center, used to power and corrupted, that isn't willing to see the bleeding obvious.
Banking crisis, banks bailed out, sovereign debt crisis and now:
a) you tax the banks
b) you tax and cut the people

Even a 0,1% or 0,01% tax on derivatives can't happen.
B is happening to the tune of tens of %.

At least here, reporting has really changed it's tone over the last couple weeks, seems the Greece example is opening eyes. A lot of 99% editorials suddenly, and often reference to the fact that such cuts cannot possibly have the aim to achieve growth. Well, I can hope (and keep posting about unity on those newspapers' sites).

[dipsydoodle]

3. Eurozone crisis: Greece 'can't take any more cuts'

The Greek people have been pushed to the limit by austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF, the country's public order minister says.

Christos Papoutsis said Greece had made "superhuman" efforts to comply, and the people "can't take any more".

>

They have also insisted that all major Greek parties give an assurance that the cuts will be enacted regardless of who wins a general election scheduled for April.

Antonis Samaras, whose New Democracy party is a member of the governing coalition, has hinted that he would try to renegotiate the bailout deal after the election.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17037267

[dipsydoodle]

4. Greek conservative takes bailout pledge to the wire

(Reuters) - Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras will send a letter of commitment to the terms of an EU/IMF bailout deal within the day, a party source said on Wednesday, with the country's bankruptcy rescue hanging in the balance.

Euro zone finance ministers had cancelled face-to-face talks on the 130-billion-euro (110 billion pounds) deal on Wednesday, saying they had yet to receive written pledges from Greek political party leaders to stick to punishing spending cuts, or clarification of all the savings.

"The letter will be dispatched within the day," a New Democracy party source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Doubt has focused on Samaras, Greece's likely next prime minister and a strong critic of the austerity measures.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/uk-greece-idUKTRE8120SU20120215

[Snake Alchemist]

5. Thanks for all the great info dipsydoodle. nt

[Yo_Mama]

6. I think some are trying to sabotage the deal

I think some countries just don't want the deal to happen because they don't want to pay for it.

Just a few days ago, the pressure was on for the Greeks to complete all this by the 15th. Now all of a sudden the meeting has been postponed to the 20th?

It seems to me that the deal is being sneakily undermined by some entity(ies) with considerable influence in Europe. If this Bloomberg article is right, they are going to delay until a default is forced on March 15th.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-15/greece-warns-euro-partners-on-threat-of-expulsion-after-bailout-hits-snag.html

This strikes me as being very dishonest.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Stuff like this don't really help

Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras, whose New Democracy party is a member of the governing coalition and is expected to win April's vote, had hinted that he would try to renegotiate the bailout deal after the election.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17037267

That conveys that their promises may not be believed.