Ambrose Evans Pritchard has written a pretty doomy scenario surrounding the Greek rioting - which has continued today without abatement. His thesis is that the economy is hamstrung by its membership of the Euro zone, a membership that was fraudulent due to statistical slieght of hand to allow Greece Euro entry. Without wanting to rehearse all the pros and cons of euro membership yet again, or deba...

There are two sensible answers to the Euro crisis. Greece could leave the Euro, devalue its currency, and come to an accommodation with the markets over what it needs to do to enable it to borrow again. That would be the best answer for the Euro,

At yesterday’s one-day European summit EU leaders, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, refused to commit to any bailout of Greece. Instead, EU leaders made a general pledge to take “determined and co-ordinated action if needed” to prop up the euro. According to the Telegraph, Merkel said, “Greece is a part of the European Union and won't be left on its own, but the...

This means that haircuts on Greek government bonds are arithmetically unavoidable, given EU taxpayers are unlikely to provide almost €100bn to Greece in aid, writes Sony Kapoor

Eurozone finance ministers yesterday agreed on a €30bn loan commitment to Greece over the next year to help manage its debt crisis, as part of a three-year commitment, with the IMF potentially providing another €15 billion. Greece has not yet asked for the loans, but if put into action the agreement would be the biggest multilateral financial rescue ever attempted.

With Greece nestling in the Euro zone, the EU Euro summiteers yesterday tried to give the impression that there would be gifts for the Greeks to save them within the zone. There was no detail, however. It was all spin and mood music, no deals,

Eurozone finance ministers approved a giant 30-billion-euro emergency aid mechanism for debt-plagued Greece on Sunday (11 April) but stressed Athens had not requested the plan be activated yet.

Eurozone finance ministers approved a €110bn package of emergency loans for Greece on Sunday, €80bn of which will be provided by eurozone countries, and the rest from the IMF. The loans will be co-ordinated by the European Commission, with up to €30bn of the eurozone loans available in the first year.

Pressure is mounting on Greece after Moody’s further downgraded its credit rating into junk status and maintained its negative outlook. FT Alphaville notes that Moody’s have said the risk of Greece defaulting is now 50-50 over the next five years. The Telegraph notes that German ministers have been forced to reassure markets that the EU, IMF and ECB will see through the €110bn bai...

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard weighs in the Daily Telegraph with thoughts about Greece, southern Europe and the fact that so many countries, such as Italy, Portugal and Greece, cannot cope with the euro. The logic of this, the article seems to imply, is that these nations should revert to their previous national currencies. For reasons that some regulars at this blog will recall, I think this idea of re...