The Core of Europe

BERLIN (Own report) – In view of the growing rivalry with China, business officials and foreign policy makers in Germany are warning against the performance of EU critical forces in the European elections in May. “Alone, no individual European country” could “play a major role” in the global competition, says Eric Schweitzer, President of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). German companies need the EU’s single market, the “core of Europe,” as an economic foundation, to assert themselves on a global level against companies from the People’s Republic of China and the USA. Should EU critical “populists” – regardless of their political orientation – obtain more influence in the European Parliament, “the future of the German economy” would also be at risk, according to DIHK Chief Executive Martin Wansleben. Dieter Kempf, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) is pleading for business representatives to commit themselves “audibly in favor of an open Europe.” At the same time, German businesses are openly demanding that their interests be imposed within the EU – a main reason for the growth of influence of “populists” in other EU member countries.

Among Vultures

As mentioned in the past, Greece isn’t going anywhere as far as a “Grexit” is concerned. Greece plays too much of a strategic importance for Europe and has the potential to be a giant oil & gas energy hub if the logistics and politics with Cyprus (who also fell victim to a German-led EU takeover) beneficially play out.

Much like Cyprus, Greece has had its national sovereignty swiped away and the Fourth Reich is coming back for more in exchange for not allowing it to economically implode. The worst case scenario is leaving the Euro and having its own currency. Or what’s more, leaving the Euro but forming a second-class ‘Euro B’ currency where the more powerful nations have a ‘Euro A’ currency. Greece could be part of a two-tier ancillary Euro currency system where the impoverished nations plagued by unemployment would become German vassal states with cheap labor to keep the economic wheels rolling — as well as for keeping social order in tact.

 

BERLIN/ATHENS (Own report) – The Greek government’s continued resistance is placing numerous German projects for restructuring the Greek economy and administration in jeopardy. In the short term, these projects – under the auspices of the German Foreign Ministry and Germany’s Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – are aimed at overcoming German production bottlenecks by using idle Greek suppliers and unemployed workers. The medium-term action program includes siphoning finances from Greek municipalities and providing the German health system cheap Greek auxiliaries (“Nursing Leave on Rhodes Island”). To comply with future higher requirements, Athens is being asked to establish an “innovation system” to form a network between “science, economy, and administration” to create “business-friendly structures.” These measures will be coordinated by the German-Greek Assembly (DGV), working allegedly in the “spirit of a grassroots movement.” The DGV has no legal function and is registered under a German government address. Disguised as a civil society organization, while also serving the German Foreign Ministry and its “German-Greek Youth Foundation,” the DGV was established by the German Chancellery during the first peak in the so-called debt crisis.

France rebels against austerity as Europe’s recovery collapses

France’s finance minister sends tremors through European capitals with a defiant warning that his country would no longer try to meet deficit targets

Eurozone strategy is in tatters after economic recovery ground to a halt across the region and France demanded a radical shift in policy, warning that austerity overkill is driving Europe into a depression.

Growth slumped to zero in the second quarter, with Germany contracting by 0.2pc and France once again stuck at zero. Italy is already in a triple-dip recession.

Yields on 10-year German Bunds fell below 1pc for the first time in history, beneath levels seen during the most extreme episodes of deflation in the 19th century. French yields also touch record lows. Much of the eurozone is replicating the pattern seen in Japan as it slid into a deflation trap in the late 1990s.

It is unclear whether tumbling yields are primarily a warning signal of stagnation ahead or a bet by investors that the European Central Bank will soon be forced to launch quantitative easing, buying government bonds across the board.

Top German body calls for QE blitz to avert deflation trap in Europe

Head of German Institute for Economic Research demands €60bn of bond purchases each month to halt contraction of credit and avert Japanese-style trap

A leading German institute has called for full-blown quantitative easing by the European Central Bank (ECB) to head off a deflation spiral, marking a radical shift in thinking among the German policy elites.

Marcel Fratzscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin, demanded €60bn (£50bn) of bond purchases each month to halt the contraction of credit and avert a Japanese-style trap.