Debt-addled Greece’s euro partners have seized control of the country’s budgetary sovereignty, giving Athens 30 days to slash its national spending to the bone.
The 16-nation eurozone’s battle to ring-fence its shared currency amid the fallout on international money markets from Greece’s unprecedented deficit crisis entered a fresh phase on Monday after finance ministers met in Brussels.
Amid doubts that already stringent emergency action barely papers over the cracks, radical new cost-cutting and tax-raising measures are set to be imposed under newly agreed EU voting rules.
“If we observe a certain number of risks materializing, the Greek government has agreed to take additional measures” to prevent a worsening fiscal hemorrhaging, Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Finance ministers flexed their muscles by instilling qualified majority voting for a meeting on March 16, effectively cutting Athens out of the decision-making process.
Juncker, who also said that contingency bailout plans are being prepared to shore up the euro, insisted that a relentless attack on Greece by market speculators would fail.
“The financial markets are completely wrong if they think they can destroy Greece,” the Luxembourg prime minister said.
Earlier, Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou had warned that only an “explicit message” concerning concrete, financial help from Brussels would be enough to deter market attack dogs.
Drastic action by the Greek government has already sparked strikes and protests at home.
Nevertheless, Greece agreed to implement new proposals to hack away at its deficit and debts if EU peers remain unconvinced, within the coming month, that it can meet its target this year, Juncker said.
Athens has committed itself to reducing a deficit last year running to 12.7 percent of GDP by 4 percentage points over the course of this year — all under the eyes of European Commission inspectors.
The additional measures “should focus on expenditure cuts” but also encompass “revenue-increasing measures,” which could include “increasing VAT” and “establishing extra duties on luxury goods including private cars,” Juncker said.
“It’s up to Greece to consolidate its public finances, it’s up to the euro area to stand determined,” Juncker told a press conference.
Market analysts have been calling for numbers to be revealed to show how far the eurozone will go to rescue Greece.
But Juncker said it would be “unwise” to publicly detail “the measures we are putting in place.”
Of bailout plans, which Juncker has said could only be coordinated bilaterally, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said “several avenues can be envisaged.” Financial markets have sent the value of the euro tumbling against the dollar over recent months.
On Monday, the euro fell to US$1.3607 in late trading in London from US$1.3629 late in New York on Friday.
Papaconstantinou said going into the talks that “what will stop markets attacking Greece at the moment is a further, more explicit message that makes operational what was decided last Thursday” by European heads of government.
Europe vowed then to implement “determined and coordinated measures” to “safeguard financial stability.”
Now is the time to “work out the mechanism,” Papaconstantinou said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from