July 1, 2011
The Greek parliament has approved the new set of austerity measures and the privatization legislation with a robust margin. But unfortunately even this victory is not going to be a breakthrough in this crisis. Assuring passage of the austerity and privatization legislation in parliament was only the easy part. Given the waves of discontent being […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
It is now obvious that the next, fifth financial tranche will be paid out. An agreement with visiting officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund — collectively known as the troika — was announced on June 3 and then relayed by Prime Minister George Papandreou to his colleague Jean-Claude Juncker […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
La Grèce traverse une profonde crise économique et politique à l’origine de laquelle des décennies de mal gouvernance sont en cause. Une révolution pacifique qui renouvellerait les élites et les règles est la voie à suivre pour poursuivre la longue marche de l’intégration européenne du pays. Par le professeur Loukas Tsoukalis Nous fêtons les trente […]
Posted by Tsoukalis Loukas
April 21, 2011
We could be entering end-game territory in the coming months. News from the bond markets about Greece resembles bulletins about Alpine peaks rather than sovereign debt priced within reasonable parameters. Greek three-year bond yields jumped to over 22 percent this week. Such surreal yield levels are pricing in the restructuring option to take place in […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
April 1, 2011
For Portugal to request an international aid package that will include assistance from the International Monetary Fund, the political and central bank authorities in Lisbon will need to comply with certain prerequisites as a quid pro quo. The issue at hand is no longer Portugal actually requesting a bailout from the IMF, the European Union […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
March 13, 2011
The agreement reached during the early hours of Saturday at the eurozone leaders’ summit in Brussels is not yet the “grand bargain” that many had advocated. The new deal to fight the year-long sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone seems to be a step in the right direction, albeit at great political and economic cost […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
March 9, 2011
Moody’s sovereign credit rating downgrade of Greece from Ba1 to B1 dropped like a bombshell in Athens on Clean Monday. The three-notch downgrade to a status of “highly speculative” placed Greece deep in junk territory, alongside Belarus and Bolivia. The rating agency last downgraded Greek government debt by a staggering four notches in June 2010. […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
February 27, 2011
The past week provided two very different expressions of citizens’ frustrations in Greece and Ireland, the two members of the European Union at the forefront of the year-long sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone. While Irish voters in Dublin, Cork and Limerick went to the polls, Greek citizens in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patra vented their […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
February 17, 2011
As the Egyptian military council asserts control and begins to sketch plans for transition to civilian democracy, what comparisons can we make with similar transitions from authoritarian regimes in Spain, Portugal, Indonesia, Chile, Brazil, Turkey and Greece? Regardless of the roots and specifics of an overthrown authoritarian regime, some characteristics are similar: severe repression or suspension of civil liberties; restriction or […]
Posted by Couloumbis Theodore
February 15, 2011
By Jens Bastian* Last Friday, the troika (the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank) presented its overall assessment of Greece during its third quarter evaluation. The main conclusion was that the Growth and Stability Program continues to make progress toward its various fiscal, revenue generating and structural reform objectives. However, […]
Posted by Bastian Jens
