Britannia Radio

Has Juncker Gone Insane?

Has Juncker Gone Insane? Eurogroup Head Says German Debt Levels "Cause For Concern

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/has-juncker-gone-insane-eurogroup-head-says-german-debt-levels-cause-concern

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2011/10/total%20debt%20to%20gdp.jpg

Regulators Are Encouraging Banks To Game Risk Models

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-regulators-are-encouraging-banks-game-risk-models

Ireland’s Kenny Says ‘Only the ECB’ Can Provide Crisis Firewall

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said that “only the ECB” has the capacity to create a “firewall to prevent against financial panic” during the current debt crisis.

Europe’s rescue fund hasn’t inspired confidence with its planned leveraging, Kenny said in a speech in Berlin today after talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-16/ireland-s-kenny-says-only-the-ecb-can-provide-crisis-firewall.html_._,_.___

Debt Crisis: Taoiseach Kenny clashes with Merkel and top minister in Berlin

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has clashed with both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on his first official trip to the eurozone’s biggest economy.

Mr Kenny said the European Central Bank should be the lender of last resort in a bid to resolve the debt crisis, clashing with Mr Schaeuble in the process.

Earlier he disagreed with Ms Merkel who said the treaty should be changed so countries not abiding by stability and growth rules could be fined.

The Taoiseach made the suggestion about the ECB at a discussion at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin but Mr Schaueble knocked it on the head, unsurprisingly.

Officials from that country have ruled out such a move despite growing pressure on the German bank to play a bigger role in solving the debt crisis.

"The ECB should be the ultimate firepower," Mr. Kenny said.

"I know the chancellor disagrees with this ... but what we've been concerned about is contagion" – a reference to the growing number of eurozone countries that are having to pay increasingly higher rates of interest to borrow on open markets including France and Spain.

"A US Federal Reserve model will not work" in the eurozone,” Mr Schaeuble said.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/debt-crisis-taoiseach-kenny-clashes-with-merkel-and-top-minister-in-berlin-2936712.html

Merkel Says Germany Ready to Cede Some Sovereignty for Euro

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany is ready to cede some sovereignty to strengthen the euro area and restore confidence in the common currency.
European Union treaty changes to strengthen EU institutions and patrol tighter budget rules are needed “to make the euro zone more crisis-proof,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin today at a joint briefing with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
“Germany sees the need in this context to show the markets and the world public that the euro will remain together, that the euro must be defended, but also that we are prepared to give up a little bit of national sovereignty,” Merkel said. Germany wants a strong EU and a euro “of 17 member states that is just as strong and inspires confidence on international markets.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-16/merkel-says-germany-ready-to-cede-some-sovereignty-for-euro.html

Merkel: under EU rules ECB can't solve euro crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined on Wednesday her country's determination to resist pressures for the European Central Bank to have a bigger role in resolving the euro zone debt crisis, saying the only way to recover markets' confidence was implementing reforms already agreed upon in the euro zone and underpinning the currency with treaty changes.
"The way we see the treaties, the ECB doesn't have the possibility of solving these problems," she told a news conference with visiting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/eurozone-germany-ireland-idUSL5E7MG20520111116

Frankfurt Group, Europe’s hit squad

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/1175691-frankfurt-group-europe-s-hit-squad

France, Germany clash over ECB role to stem crisis

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/us-eurozone-

Various mechanisms considered to expand EFSF: IMF Lipsky

He goes on to say that the endgame of the euro zone crisis will likely be more fiscal integration of Europe and little likely hood of the euro zone falling apart since the costs of such a disruption would be too huge.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview with Latha Venkatesh.

Q: Business and even non-business audiences across the world are interested in how the European situation may unravel. It seems to be a catch-22, with banks getting downgraded because they hold sovereign paper and sovereigns getting downgraded if they try to help banks or other sovereigns. So is it possible at all for Europe to solve this problem by itself or will it need an external amount of money, either through the IMF or G20 capitalizing the IMF?
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/eu-endgame-fiscal-integration-not-dissolution-lipsky_618344.html

EU Leaders Call for Continent’s Economic Consolidation

Key European Union officials say the continent needs to oversee the spending of individual countries to ensure the survival of the euro currency and resolve the burgeoning debt crisis.

Both European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU President Herman Van Rompuy called Wednesday for further integration of Europe's economic affairs. Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that the continent is “now facing a truly systemic crisis.” He said that without increased continent-wide meshing of economic interests and oversight, “we will not be able to sustain the common currency.”
http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/11/16/eu-leaders-call-for-continents-economic-consolidation-3/