Greece Gives Europe A Counter-Ultimatum: Accept Or Reject Our Offer

Yanis-Varoufakis

Greece Gives Europe A Counter-Ultimatum: Accept Or Reject Our Offer (ZeroHedge, Feb 19, 2015):

UPDATE: *GREEK GOVT WON’T ACCEPT ULTIMATUMS, WON’T GIVE ANY: OFFICIAL

After days of repeated ultimata from The Eurogroup, as Germany (bad cop) and the rest (good cop) make optimistic sounds, this morning’s rejection of Greece’s latest plan (following Greek comparisons of Germany to Nazi surrender demands) has prompted something new:

  • *EU HAS 2 CHOICES, APPROVE OR REJECT GREEK REQUEST: OFFICIAL
  • *EUROGROUP MEETING TO SHOW WHO WANTS A SOLUTION: GREEK OFFICIAL

Markets are stumbling on this news as Germany and the rest come to terms with not just the billions in debt on ECB and various bank balance sheets but the 49 billion other reasons to avoid Grexit that have mounted in TARGET2 liabilities.

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As Bloomberg reports,

Eurogroup has two choices tomorrow, either reject or accept Greece’s extension request, a Greek govt official says, in response to German Finance Ministry spokesman comments.

Greece has submitted request for 6-mo extension of loan agreement: official

Reuters adds that the Greece’s government “said it was up to euro zone finance ministers to decide whether to accept or reject its proposal to extend a loan agreement, in a bid to play down German comments rejecting the proposal as insufficient. “The Greek government submitted a letter to the Eurogroup asking for a six-month extension of the loan agreement. Tomorrow’s Eurogroup has only two options: either to accept or reject the Greek request,” a government  official said. “It will then be clear who wants to find a solution and who doesn’t.” Earlier on Thursday, the German finance ministry rejected Athens’ request for an extension by saying it fell short of the conditions set out earlier this week by the euro zone.

What else is at stake besides the tens of billions of Greek sovereign bonds held by the ECB and various European official institutions? Why just some EUR 49 billion in Bundesbank Target2 claims which risk a prompt unwind once the sanctity of the “monetary union” is finally broken…

20150218_TARGET2

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As Goldman recently warned, this is the worst case scenario…

That said, there are aspects that leave us more worried than we have been since the start of the Euro area crisis. The confrontation between Greece and its European creditors is taking place against different political constraints than on previous occasions. The new Greek government has to be able to claim at home that the program agreed on by its predecessors is all but defunct. While the European partners can agree to modify the content of the program, as we have seen occur in other program countries, they cannot abandon previous arrangements. In our view, the risk of a miscalculation in the negotiations remains high and will peak between now and month-end, when the current program ends.

To mitigate the risk of a failure of the two sides reaching an agreement by the end of the month, investors could consider buying deep out-of-money put options spanning this horizon on liquid equity indices. Given the systemic nature of the ‘shock’, we doubt that even the major markets would be unaffected.

And now, back to BTFATH.

2 thoughts on “Greece Gives Europe A Counter-Ultimatum: Accept Or Reject Our Offer”

  1. Greece will leave the Euro Zone, there is no profit to remaining, just endless debt, all funds going to greedy gut bankers, not one cent towards rebuilding their economy. This is the age old problem when bankers are allowed to run amok. There is no money left for the nation or debtor to rebuild so they can repay the money. The current situation promises nothing but more of the same. The money cannot be repaid without allowing the economy to grow and prosper first.

    I am not excusing the lies told all by the Greek moneymakers at the onset of the Euro arrangement…………but time will show they all did the same thing……………Greece got caught first. There is no viable way for the Greeks to work out of this, the debt is too much, the rates too high, and no chance besides bankruptcy………..and not the kind they practice in the US and the Euro allowing the greedy guts to take everything at pennies on the dollar leaving nothing for the nation, state or city to use to rebuild. It isn’t bankruptcy protection, it is legalized plundering. Look at Detroit.

    If something is not done to curb the bankers, they will choke the life out of the entire world. It is their nature, they are inherently greedy and rapacious. Now, having QE’d the US into national poverty, they are starting it in the Euro Zone……it is destroying all the power of nations everywhere, all that is left is debt for those stupid enough to accept it.

    Nobody will…………that is the dirty secret……….nobody will shoulder such debt, and then……….well, then it all falls apart. It has already destroyed the wealth and life of the US. The EU is following, and only those who bail out like Iceland, will survive.

    Greece is the beginning of the world revolution against bankers. This is not the first time their ideas have changed the world, but that is what they are doing. The world is war weary and sick to death of working harder for less and less. Look at the shipping problems on the American west coast. The press will blame the empty ships on the unions instead of the fact the economy is dead, save for a few pockets of prosperity. All the rest are losing more every year. The truth is the entire western economy is dead…….regardless of the lies of US media and the mendacious empty US stock market.

    What kind of market counts losses as volume? What kind of market where 90% of all transactions are quick buys and sells…….all are sells, skimming a few more cents off the top…..until there are no cents left? Only a desperate one, a dead one. The stakes of the game are way too high, the entire western world rides on them…………and the stakes are desperately high, regardless they have been whittled away to nothing. The people do not yet know, they will only know when too many show up and ask for their money.

    The entire western economy is dying….where banks hold nothing in reserve, not even five cents for every dollar they claim as assets…..they hold nothing because they have nothing. The TBTF banks have already failed, and all the remaining wealth of the US was used to keep them upright another seven years. Isn’t it interesting how it happens in sevens? The most severe US depression was experienced in 1921. To pull the nation out, they used a real estate, then a stock market bubble to keep it going……until 1929, and they were out of aces, just as they are now. Now, close to failure again because the seed corn of the US was eaten to keep them going, and grabbing another seven years.

    Now, the ships are empty, the economy is held in a corporate owned stranglehold, and the hope and innovation that made the US a growing entity died. The Euro following in their footsteps, and having far less wealth, dies with them. Greece is bucking the trend, and by doing so, may well be the start of a new movement…….east.

    If enough nations throw the bankers out……………………..

    Greece is a messenger carrying the results of such folly.
    The people have had it.

    Reply

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